The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 6: God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Episode Date: May 24, 2020

A true disciple of Jesus doesn’t merely respond generously to a sermon, but lives a life of generosity in response to the gospel. For more information and resources on this series, visit coe22.com/bestsermonever. For Disciple Group Curriculum please visit coe22.com/disciplegroups.

Amen and amen. If you got your Bibles, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 6. And because of your generosity as a church, the whole, all of 1122, and then also because of the generosity of a bunch of individuals like Greg Barnett and a whole bunch of others at 1122, we are able to bless people like that, again, because God has blessed us so much. And we wanted to share that with you, particularly on this weekend, Memorial Day weekend, as Barb is the widow of a veteran.

We wanted to just thank you. All of you that serve, all of you that are married to those who serve, all of you who have lost somebody that laid down their lives for our freedom, we say thank you, thank you, thank you. And I wish, I wish we were all here together so that we could celebrate you and clap and cheer and stand up and all of that. But in your home right now, I'd just like for all of us to bow our heads and pray and just pray for all of the families of those whose loved ones gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this picture of the gospel. The greater love has no one than this, that they would lay down his life for his friends. Jesus, we know this is what you did for us. Lord, you died for us, that we could have life, have it abundantly, have it eternally. And God, we thank you for the American servicemen and women who have laid down their life for our freedom. And because of their great sacrifice, we could be here this day to celebrate you without fear, but in freedom. And so, God, for you, we give glory, and to them we say thank you. We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen. Matthew chapter 6. We're continuing in this sermon series, best sermon ever, not because it is the best sermon that I'm preaching, but because we're studying the best best sermon ever that Jesus preaches on the mountain of beatitudes this sermon. And he just wrapped up what I kind of think is like Act 1 of the sermon. Remember he said that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you have no place to the kingdom of heaven. And then he walks through, he deconstructs the righteousness of the Pharisees,

and then he reconstructs what true righteousness is at the heart level before an almighty God. And then he sums it up with this, be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. And then from there now he's going to go into section two where he unpacks three spiritual disciplines. He's going to give one verse in 6'1, which is like the umbrella over the next three weeks of our series. And basically what he's doing in these three spiritual disciplines is he's putting beside each other the religious show-offs versus the personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And over and over and over three times he's going to say, so don't be the law. like the hypocrites. The hypocrites seek the applause of man, but there is

a personal and private reward that we have in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And then he's going to talk about money. So, I'm going to talk about money. I'm going to just admit to you, this is the first time I have been excited that I am recording these

versus preaching a regular live weekend. Because the only people here right now are staff and some invited guests, some vision ambassadors, some deacons and stuff. So the moment I said money, what you did is you just smile like you've been smiling. What normally happens when I talk about money on a regular weekend is I say, we're going to talk about money, and I can see people all over.

I mean, from Bay Meadows to Mandarin, I can see to everywhere, all right? Baker Correctional usually doesn't have a problem. Unions usually okay. But everywhere, some people would just be like, I knew it. Why do I always want to talk about money? Well, see, the problem is when you teach the Bible, is you don't really get to dictate, especially if you go verse by verse like we do, I didn't make up the sermon on the mouth. In fact, I don't think Jesus organized it very well. If I could give him some tips as a

preacher, he's going to talk about money, then prayer, then fasting, then he's going to talk about money again. So guess what? In four weeks, we're going to be back on money, and then he's going to talk about prayer again. Jesus likes to talk about prayer and money all the time. In fact, Jesus talked about money more than anything else in the Bible. He talks about money more than heaven, more than hell, more than grace, more than faith, more than the gospel itself. And so, we're going to talk about money. Now, and let me just warn you, okay, most of you are watching it home, we're not going to take up an offering.

We never take up an offering. And I can't come to your house. We're not doing some kind of special offering or anything like that. We just want to, honestly, here's why I think Jesus talks about money so much. It's because money like no other thing, tricks us, deceives us. I mean, we think they are reaching out and taking hold of some stuff and some money, and then before we know it, it has a hold of us, like no other idol in our lives. And Jesus wants us to walk in a grace-filled freedom that he has purchased for us.

Now, he's going to give us this kind of banner over the next three weeks, which is chapter 6, verse 1. He says, beware. Beware of practicing your. righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. And then under that he's going to talk about these three spiritual disciplines, giving, praying, and fasting. And so the whole big idea for all the next three weeks essentially is that your motive matters. Your motive matters.

like playing church and being a good Christian is essentially a worthless act of righteousness. In fact, Isaiah says that even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord. And so when we do this, like when we just, in our giving and our praying, in our worshiping, in all of the church activities that we have, when we do this for the applause of man, it is really just a Christian form of a Christian form of, idolatry. It's just popularity with a choir robe. We just change the rules into some like

church rules. Now here's the crazy thing about motive. Only you and Jesus know. Only you and Jesus know. Everybody looks great from here. You know? Like when you're singing, if you sing with your hands up because you love Jesus and you're worshiping him, or you sing with your hands up because you want everybody to think You're spiritual, so you put your hands up at the right part of the song. You know the right part of the song. You know, they write the songs that way. So it gets to that part where it's like, oh, this is the part. And if you just do that, because everybody around you is doing it.

From here, I can't tell. Everybody looks like a Christian to me. And so what Jesus is going to do is he's meddling down in the motive level now, down deep in your heart. So he says, be careful, beware. Because if you're just playing church so that church people think you're awesome, that's not awesome. verse two now he's going to go after money thus when you give not if you give

he's just going to assume that giving is happening he says when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others truly I say to you they have received their reward and their reward is the people around them

think that they're generous verse three but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. You ever notice lately, well, if you get to go to the store, that every store you go to, they're like, have you signed up for the rewards program?

And I'm like, no, I want to be on that program where you just, I give you money, you give me the thing I'm here for it, and never call me again. Okay, but did you know Jesus has a rewards program? There's a way to do it where there's no reward, and then there's a way that you're genera. signed you up for the rewards program. I don't know who doesn't want to be in the Jesus rewards program.

Now, Jesus specific, he's talking about giving to the needy. Okay, so they're, in the old, in this time, in the first century, what he's talking about here is giving alms to people in need. There was also tithes and offerings, but the tides and offerings for the Jewish people had already been laid out prescriptively in the law,

and it was the law. Like, you didn't get to really decide what a tithe was, it was just a math problem. And in the law of Moses, it already laid it out. Like if you're in this income bracket, you give a dove, and if you're in this income bracket, you give a goat. I mean, it was prescribed. And in different times of the year, you gave different kinds of things.

But the kind of giving that Jesus is talking about here is a lot closer than the kind of giving and offering that we do in church. This was like the, I'm going to decide in my heart what God has led. me to give for the sake of the gospel. Now, when he says, when you give, don't sound a trumpet. I don't think people actually took a trumpet. It was like, bam-bra-ram. Here's my time.

Okay, that's not how it worked. But they had these, like giving receptacles, and they were made out of copper, and they were shaped like the top of a trumpet. And then it went down in this collection bag. And it was kind of narrow around the neck of it. It was really big on the top. And so what people would do is they would come in, they would take all the money they had.

They didn't have folding money. You know, it was all coins. And they would take their big bag of money, and when they would stand there, they would kind of slowly dole out, and they would get in as many, like, pennies as they could, you know? It's like if you're giving, you know, if you went to your chains drawer,

you remember you collect chains for a long time, and then you would stand in front of it and just kind of pour it into the offering plate, and it would just make this, you know, just clanking sound. And the longer you stood there and poured out money, the bigger deal. you were. And Jesus is like, hey, you might want to watch that. Because if you do that,

then that's all the reward. Yeah, everybody thinks you're awesome. And that's it, but that's not awesome. Now, I don't know a lot of modern day equivalents. I do know churches in our city, and during their offering time, they have different lines. You bring your offering to the front, not our church, you bring your offering to the front, and they have different lines. And they kind of do it like Delta. there's like the coach line it's just the regular folk and then they have like a gold and a platinum

and a diamond and the y'all think I'm kidding you look at me like I'm crazy I'm not crazy that's crazy I'm not crazy they do this and then the pastor gives a special blessing to like the diamond line okay Jesus says okay if that's how you want to do it you got your reward

that's it everybody knows you're in the first class line of giving congrats that's it now one time, the closest thing I've ever seen in this in real life is one time I was in New York. I was like a sophomore in college. I was on a mission trip. We were serving the homeless at this place called Curley's Love Kitchen.

I bumped into this guy, named Butch. He surrendered his life to Christ and I invited him to the church service that evening. That's kind of what the church would do. They'd feed people during the day and then they'd do a church service at night. And it was just for like homeless folks. I like our church the way we do it. We're for all people. You know, we don't have special services depending on your socioeconomic class.

It's just all of us are here. Okay. So we go, it's a bunch of college kids and then a bunch of homeless people, okay? Mostly men. And there was a fragrant love offering when you walked in the room, okay? It was just there. But then when they did the offering time, they had this offering box, and you couldn't tell how much people gave, but they would come down and they would put their arm in the offering box.

Kind of like a little magic hat, like you'd pull a rabbit out of. And when they dropped something in there, they had a siren and a flashing light like somebody'd scored a hockey goal. Literally, it goes meh, and then we go off. So anytime during the service, when somebody gave their offering, that they would, but these are all homeless people, and everybody would cheer. And I thought, yeah, Jesus said don't do that, but that's pretty cool. These guys have nothing, and they would do that. Okay, so. So here's the point.

We're not even close to being done. I just want to share the point with you and then unpack the point. The point is this, a true disciple of Jesus doesn't merely respond generously to a sermon. especially for everybody to see, but lives a life of generosity in response to the gospel, because Christ is our reward. So, anytime we talk about giving, somebody, people ask me, well, how much? How much should we give? Or if you've been around church before a while, people will ask this, all right, as New Testament Christians, are we supposed to tithe?

Isn't the tithe just an Old Testament law, and we don't have to tithe anymore? Well, I will tell you that Jesus affirmed the tithe, that the tithe predates the law. And every single time I have had a conversation that led off with somebody asking me, do I have to tithe? It was always them trying to keep more money for themselves. So the good news is, no, you can give way more than the tithe in the new covenant. You see, Jesus did not tithe his blood, praise God, he gave all. And we are to respond that way.

Now, here's the problem with Americans, especially when it comes to giving. Here's the problem. Most of us are rich, but don't think we are. And most of us are not generous, but we think we are. Do you see that? Most Americans, most of us are rich, but we don't think we're rich because we compare, we like measure our richness, not based on what we have, but based on what we want. And we think we're generous.

not because we measure what we give, but we measure what we wish we could. We measure our intentions. We're like, of course I'm generous, because every once in a while I give somebody an $8 or something. But in reality, we're not very generous, and we are very rich. That is a dangerous, dangerous combination.

And so all throughout the scriptures, it talks about bringing back to God a portion, a portion of what he has. given to us. I mean, imagine this. Parents, you don't have to imagine too hard, all right? Imagine you buy your son or daughter a video game console, right? We got JP a virtual reality thing this year. This thing is crazy. It is like another world. It's unbelievable. You look like a fool when you play it, but it's worth it. You put it on and you're in there like karate chopping things, all right? It is so real that the first time Gretchen put it on, she fell down

because she was going to lean on a table in the game. Boom, on the ground. I'm like, it's not real. It's virtual. Anyway, okay. So, so. imagine you go out you spend a few hundred dollars you get the game and you give it to your kid and he's playing it he's playing it and then you say hey can i have a turn and your kid looks at you and it's like no it's mine you think are you kidding i will burn it in the front yard are you kidding are you kidding right now and we look at our kids like that and think are you even being serious right now that doesn't make any sense at all right your dad bought you your dad, mom bought you this thing for you to enjoy.

And all I'm asking, can I just get a turn on it? And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, it's mine. And I think, when we think, everything we make is mine, then we're like that spoiled little kid, and God would be like, are you kidding? And so the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 1 through chapter 9, he wrote two letters to the church in Corinth, and it was a wreck. I mean, they had all kind of problems.

And so he's tightened them up in all of these doxological and ecclesiological deals. And then when he gets to the end of the second letter, he's about to take up an offering. And so he is going to explain why we give and how much we give. And he answers a lot of the questions that we might have in regards to generosity. He says this, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1. He says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that he answers. has been given among the churches of Macedonia. In other words, Paul was like, when Macedonian churches gave the offering, they were unbelievable,

and I just want to share their story of generosity with you. Verse two, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Look at these words. How do these words belong in the same sentence? How do these words go together? Severe affliction. So it's not like, because they were generous, God blessed them with Cadillacs and Cotton Candy,

but they were in a moment of severe affliction, and that severe affliction led to an abundance of joy. And this wasn't a rich church, this was a poor church. In their extreme poverty, it led to an old. overflow in a wealth of generosity. Just for a second, imagine. Imagine having that kind of financial freedom. Imagine having that kind of financial freedom.

Imagine that even if all of your circumstances around you would be classified as severe affliction, your response to the severe affliction would be overflowing joy. Anybody want that? And imagine even if you were in poverty, you would have this overflow of wealth of generosity. You see, what happened in the Macedonian church was simply this, is they had a greater treasure than the treasures of this world. That's it.

See, they signed up for Jesus' reward program. And they believe that Jesus was the reward. Now, he keeps talking, he's talking about the Macedonian church. He says, for they gave according to their mission. means, according to their means. You so this is part of why the Bible teaches the tithe, because the tithe is a percentage. There's not like a, you know, there's not like a membership fee. That's not how it works.

It's a percentage. They gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord. You see, here's what C.S. Lewis says about giving. He says, I don't believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expensive. on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. It's 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 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. This is what's happened in Macedonia. Look at verse four. He says, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. You know what this means? Paul gave an opportunity.

He took up an offering and the Macedonian church gave. And then they came back to Paul a second time and asked for him to take up a second offering. I have been in ministry on staff since I was 19 years old. 27 years I've been doing this thing, okay? At different positions in the church for sure. That has never happened to me as a pastor one time. ever, ever, ever. I've never had a single human come up to me, let alone an entire, like, church service and be like, hey, can we ask for one more thing? What, you want another song?

Nope, more preaching? Nope, we've got plenty of that. What can I do for you? Can we do an offering again, please? I think we could do a little better. We would love and long to participate in this generosity initiative for one more time. That's what's going on in this church. Verse five, and this, not as we expected. This is one of the key lines. But they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then they participated in the ministry that we were asking for participation in. You see, the reason that we tithed.

Tithe, literally in Hebrew, it means 10%. But it doesn't just mean 10%. It means the first and the best. The Bible says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. And the only way that we can give by faith is to give first. You see, the reason that we give first, first of all, is because God is first. Come on, we've been swimming around in the Shemah for a year and a half now, right? The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

And he's not just first in sequence, but he's first in essence. And when we understand that God is just like not, he's not just like number one on our list of priorities, but he's like the page on which we would make all of our priorities. Then we know that God is first. And because God is first, then God receives first. That God doesn't do leftovers. Because when we give God leftovers, you cannot give leftovers by faith.

You see, when we give first, when we bring to him first, what we're saying is, God, I'm giving you first because this is a declaration of me that I trust you by faith, that there will be more later, that God is first, and that God went first, that we love because God first loved us and gave his son as a propitiation for our sin, that God demonstrated his love for us and this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us, that God did not look down on the earth and look at us and say, as soon as you get your act together, then I will respond by sending you a Savior. But it was the other way around.

Because God is first, he always acts within his character, and his character is preeminence. His character is first, and he is first, and he loves first, and he went first. We're going to find out in a couple of weeks in Matthew 621 that our money reveals what is first in our hearts. the way your treasury is there your heart will be also. Therefore, we bring our first and our best, our tithe, as a response to God. You see, the reality is we tithe, we all tithe to something.

Something gets our first and our best. It could be our house, could be our education, it could be a car, something gets our first and our best, and something gets our leftovers. and what the Bible teaches is that the thing that you give first to is the first thing in your life. And so we bring our first and our best, our tith, as a response, as an act of trust, not to impress others, not to get something in return, but because Jesus is our reward. Now, anytime I teach on the tithe, then people talk about, oh, you mean 10%, 10%, 10%, I don't think, I don't know that that's crazy. I would have to change everything. You mean I would have to change everything?

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. We've got a winner. Oh, I thought you wanted Jesus to be your Lord. Comfort can be your Lord. Or your car can be your Lord. Your house can be your Lord. Or whatever you want to be your Lord. It can be your Lord.

But if Jesus is your Lord, then you orient your life in such a way that he is first. Is he the one thing that drives everything? Now, if you're getting this news for the very first time, you might need a long-term plan to get there over time, no problem. But remember what Jesus is talking about. He is talking about motive first and foremost. Do we take our first and our best and bring it to him? It says they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Verse 6 accordingly, we urge Titus that as he had started so he should complete among you this act of grace. but as you excel in everything, in faith and speech and knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also. In other words, what Paul is saying is you cannot separate your financial life from your Christian life. That you cannot say, yeah, I love Jesus. Yes, I do. I love Jesus. How about you?

And I excel in faith and speech and knowledge and all of this. I am abiding in my walk with Christ. and then somehow have your financial world over here. In other words, it is nearly impossible to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ and your financial life be a total mess. If you think, man, one of my favorite questions to ask people is this, when it comes to generosity, is this. If you were God, would you give you more money?

I mean, based on what his priority, for all eternity is and what your priorities are for your life, if you were in charge of all of heaven and earth, would you pour more financial blessing down on you? Paul is like, hey, listen, you're excelling in all of these other areas of your life. Don't think generosity is somehow separate. He says, I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

4, verse 9 says 4. This is important. Conjunctions are always really important in the Bible. Four, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich. What Paul is saying is your motivation for giving is not because of all the awesome things that are going to happen with your money. Your motivation forgiving is not because I, Paul, am asking you. Your motivation forgiving is not because. everybody will think you're awesome.

Your motivation for giving is because God generously gave his son, Jesus Christ, who stepped out of heaven to come and save you. You see, there's, very generally speaking, I made this up, but I believe there's like this giving spectrum, okay? Very generally. I think there's one of four categories we can be in when it comes to generosity or lack of. Two are bad and two are good, but it is a spectrum. The worst, the worst is greed.

Because here's what greed says. Greed says, forget you, God, I got this. I made it, it's mine, I'm spending it, what I want for me. That is the worst. And here's what the crazy thing about greed. Ready? Nobody thinks they're greedy. I've never met the person that says, well, you know, my problem is, I'm greedy. No, we'd say things like, you know, I just like nice things.

Well, everybody says that. My cousins and Dylan are like, you know what, PBR is the best. I love nice things. You understand? Now here's the part about greed, man. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus says, beware of greediness. You know what you have to beware of it? Because it'll sneak up on you and you don't know it.

He doesn't say beware of adultery. Because you're not tricked into that. You're not like, hey, wait a minute, you're not my wife. Like, you are fully aware what you're into there, okay? But you can be neck deep into greed and have no idea beware. It's the worst. Greed is the worst. The next one up for you.

that you're still in the bad but it's not as bad the next one up on the spectrum i would say is quid pro quo or prosperity gospel which is this um i do a little for you and then you do a little for me now at least you're getting god in the equation here okay it's better than running your own life but what begins to happen here is you begin to treat god like he is a means to your own end in your life to worship yourself. That's what the prosperity gospel is. The heresy of the prosperity gospel is not God is preeminent. It's I am preeminent and you respond to me.

So the worst is greed. The next is, okay, I need this job, so I'm going to give a little at church this week, and I'm sure God is going to give me more back. Then I think the next, I think you cross over from bad to good. I think you're in the good now, but not all the way the best. The good reason to give, but not the best, is R-O-I. return on investment.

And honestly, a bunch of our sharpest, like, business, men and women in our church, this is kind of where you are right now. You look at what's happening at the Church of 1122, and you're like, this is a good investment. That since we launched the one initiative, over 2,500 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And you say, I want to get in on that. We're taking the Gospels into prisons. We're launching campuses all over the place.

and you're like, I think from a heavenly perspective, there's a good return on this investment. And again, I think it glorifies God. I think it's honoring to the Lord and I think it's good. It's just not the best. The best, the ultimate reason to give is simply this because Christ is your reward. That's it, because Christ is your reward. Because he who was rich became poor so that we who were bankrupt could be rich in him. And out of a response to that, we say, God, I just want to bring to you.

you my first and my best because you first love us by give us your best in Jesus Christ. First 10, he says, and in this matter, I give my judgment. This benefits you. This benefits you. Again, God doesn't need your money. Let me tell you what is not happening in heaven right now. God is not sitting in heaven going, first of all, what is happening with the coronavirus? Somebody needs to get a hold of this. And if 1120,000, too would just give a little more money. Then I've got plans for Jacksonville. No, no, no, no, no.

He owns it all. He has it all. He says, he says, the more generous that we are with our time, our talents, our treasure, the more generous that we are, the less this world can be in control of us. He gives a bunch of specific instructions for the rest of the chapter.

You're not listening fast enough, so I've got to skip down to chapter 9, verse 1. Go there. Then he says this, Now, it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints. That's a great word, superfluous. He means, I don't even have to talk you into giving and how great it is what God is doing. Because, for I know, verse two, for I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

In other words, he's looking at these three churches now. The Corinth hasn't even given their offering yet, and he's like, I know you guys are ready for this. And I'm so proud of you way to go. Now, I would want to echo the words of the Apostle Paul to the Church of 1122. Your generosity, and listen, we've been teaching on this for a long time. And your generosity is overwhelming. And your generosity, the generosity of the Church of 1122, is in terms. inspiring to a whole bunch of churches.

We have been able to plant over 250 churches, and we are able to do all of these wonderful things. And it's not just those things, but it is your response to the gospel that inspires other people to want to get into this kingdom of heaven advancing kind of game. One of the number one questions I've gotten in the whole COVID-19 thing, as people ask me this, they go, and they always do it this way. Okay, they're always like, so how's the giving at church? And be careful if you ask me that question. Because I'm going to warn you, here's what I'm going to say to you. I'm going to go, well, how's your giving?

How's your giving? You see, because we're one body, but the body's made of a whole bunch of individual cells. And there actually, there's not like the giving at 1122. There's not. There's just all of us individually responding. And again, I know we're in all different kind of place. I'll talk about that in a little while. But how's your giving?

And so Church of 1122, I say thank you, thank you, thank you. Because even though there's a whole bunch of stuff shut down, you know what's not shut down? The church is not a building. The church is not an event. The church is a movement, a movement of God for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And so way to go.

He says, but I am sending the brothers so they are boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter so that you may be ready. as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange the advance for the gift. You have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. Here's what he's saying. I'm just going to give you a heads up when I get to town. We're going to do like an advanced commitment night, so everybody be ready. That's what he's saying. And then Paul says, the point in the

is this. I love it in the Bible when it doesn't like now tell a story about horse races or something. It just says, here's the point, all right? And he goes, the point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. In other words, you can't outgive God. This is what he's saying. He's saying, the more you try to hold on to stuff as if it is yours, the more this world is going to have a grip on you and clenched fists are impossible posture to receive a blessing from God. But the more we so bountifully, the more we are able to receive from God. Now, some people will say, do you mean to tell me that if I give God money, then God will give me more money? All right. Here's what, let me talk to you about two different ways to think about this.

First of all, let's just talk about this in the natural. Let's leave all the supernatural, God is in charge of all things out of it. And let's just talk about budgets and finance and you make money and you have bills and there should be no mystery there, right? Money comes in, money goes out, you tell it where to go. Sometimes you forget or you thought you were going to send it that way, but you tell every dollar where it should go. Just on a practical level, if you tithe, fundamentally, you learn how to live on less than you make. Period. And every single one of us have learned to live on a percentage of our income. And I'm telling you, if you learn to live on a percentage that is like 90%, then you will always have enough.

And everybody lives on a percentage of their income. The problem is most people don't know what the percentage is. And the average in America is about 108%. That's why it goes real bad. We're in debt up to our eyeballs to try to buy things, to impress people that we don't. don't even know. And you do that long enough and it goes really, really bad. So just in the natural, there is an incredible blessing to living on less than you make. But it's not only natural. There is a supernatural element to it. That God is ready and willing and able to get involved in your finances when you invite him in to do so. And there is a blessing there. And the blessing, the ultimate blessing is that he is the reward, that he is the reward. Remember what Jesus said?

So when you give in secret, you're not trying to show off, but when you give in secret, you will be rewarded. What's the reward? Cash and prizes? How important do you think cash and prizes are to the Lord? You know what's going to happen to all of it? Every single bit of it, I'm telling you, I don't care if you're making bank or you're getting by, there is a trap door under all of our feet, and eventually it opens and we fall off the earth. That's a fact. And everything that we have stays here. The reward is that we get him. And as we are generous, your trust increases, your faith increases, and your intimacy increases. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one, he's going to get real practical. All right, well, Paul, you didn't tell me how much to give. Okay, here's how much you should give. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. This is between you and the Lord. Now, again, if you want to talk about the tithe, I think the tithe is a good starting place for the Christian. But we should not be limited by that. Why? Because Jesus didn't tithe his blood. If Jesus would have tithed his blood, we'd also be lost. Okay? Each one must get

give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. Just ask you, am I a cheerful giver? If you were not a cheerful giver, there are areas of your life the gospel has yet to invade. In Luke chapter 21, don't turn in there, I'll just read it. It's four verses. Jesus is watching the offering at church. It says Jesus looked up and he saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box

and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. This is like less than a dollar. And he said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. So listen, Paul says that you should give what you've decided in your heart. You should give cheerfully. You should not give reluctantly or under compulsion.

Listen, at 1122, we don't even take up an offering. We don't. everybody that's ever given us counsel at the church on money has begged us to take up an offering. To get plates, you know, and to pass them out or buckets or something like that. And I'm like, no, we're not going to do that. They're like, well, you can get more money if you do that. I'm like, I don't care about getting more money. I care about people like giving more of themselves to Jesus.

And so if that bothers them, I get it. I don't want you to feel compelled that way because I know what would happen. Most of you give online now. So if we pass the bucket and you don't put anything in it, there's this compulsion, right? You feel like you want to look down the aisle and you'd be like, I'm an online giver. I just, it's weird. There are churches that print out a little thing that says, I give online and you can put it in there so you can put something in here. I think that's weird, man.

I think that's weird, okay? The other thing is, I don't even like the word give. I don't like the, it doesn't work well in English, but we don't really, what do you give God? That's like a kid giving you a birthday present. You gave them the money to buy you some junk that you wouldn't even buy for yourself and it's dumb, then you've got to act like you like it. You lose money on that deal, you understand? You can't give God.

If I let you borrow my truck and then a week later you came back and you were like, do I have a gift for you? I'm like, okay, what is it? Your truck. I'm like, you don't understand how this works, okay, and you're never getting my truck again because you're not that smart. No, man, what can we bring to God? Everything is his. We are stewards. and managers for a time.

So all we can do is bring to him what is already his. And so listen, if you feel guilty, if it's reluctant, I would say hold on to it, man. I would say pray about that thing like crazy, allow the Spirit of God to do what my words could never do. Again, a true disciple of Jesus does not give generously in response to a sermon. We live generously in response to the gospel. I don't want anybody at our church to feel that way.

I was in Africa at a mission trip. We read this church. We went to two different churches. One was out in the country. I'm pro-country people. It was time for offering. People came in with like vegetables, a chicken. It was incredible.

The next week I was preaching at this different church. We were in the city. I'm not as much in the city people. And they take up the offering. And it's fine. They had these, you know, everybody passed the plate. We all put stuff in. the preacher would get up to preach, and as he was preaching, they would take the offering,

and they would put it out on the table next to the preacher, and like the treasure or whatever, be counting it up like this. And every once in a while, the preacher had this big old pulpit, you know, sitting up here, and the preacher would look over there, and the guy's counting it, and he looked back, he's like, nope. So the preacher is like, all right, let's run it back again, and they did another offering, offering number two, all right? So we start singing the song again, and they pass it all out, and everybody's like, all right, and so they give it one more time.

Same story, bring it back. The guy counts it up and looks at the guy. He's like, all right. And then they did a third offering. But this time, they didn't pass the plate. This time, these young guys, these like teenage kids, they had like the offering basket, and it was on a long pole. And they would just walk up to specific people in the congregation.

And they'd poke them. You've never seen somebody worship. They'd be like, oh, Lord, they would just eyes, closed, hand up. No, I'm all, turn your eyes toward Jesus. Get off me, right? And everybody's watching. And finally he'd like dig in one last time and plop it in there. Okay. So it was humorous. I think there was a compulsion there. All right. You see, the reason is not to give, remember, what Jesus is our motives matter. Our motives matter. And so guilt should not motivate us. A good sermon should not motivate us.

compulsion should not motivate us, human expectation should not motivate us. The reason to give is the gospel. We bring our first and our best because he first loved us by giving us his best in Jesus Christ. So he says each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And here's the reward Jesus is talking about. and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times

you may abound in every good work. What's the word that he keeps saying over and over and over and over? You give some and God gives all. That's the equation there. You trust him to be faithful and he is always faithful. Now, listen, I could give you story after story after story after story at 1122 and even in my own life when we trusted God with our first and a best

and didn't know how this thing was going to happen and we had this financial blessing come. I mean, I can give you all those stories, but that isn't the point. In Philippians chapter 4, Paul says in 413, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That verse has nothing to do with scored touchdowns, nothing at all. The context of that verse is he says this, know what it is to have plenty, and I know what it is to be in want. Earlier in Philippians, he says, I've learned the secret of being content in every situation.

Imagine that. Imagine that. Imagine no matter what your bills were. Imagine no matter how big your house is. Imagine no matter what was in your bank account that you were content. Like you could just breathe in breathe out

and no it's okay that's the reward and in that context Paul says I can do all things I can be rich I could be broke I could give it all the way I could be blessed like crazy

and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me he says as it is written he has distributed feet freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. God gives us seed. If you just hold on to it, guess what you have?

Oh, you got seed. That's it. All you got seed. But when you sow seed, you got to let it go. You can't hold on the seed and bury it in the ground. Nothing will happen to it. I don't know how it works, but it doesn't work like that. The crazy thing is, is in God's economy when we sow seed into his kingdom as a demonstration and a declaration that we believe the gospel and we trust the goodness of God, then he takes that and he multiplies it. And then there is a harvest. I don't know how many of your farmers, but if you look at the amount of seed that they put into a field, you're like, that doesn't look like much. But then you look at the field at the time of harvest,

and you're like, that is a lot. It's like that little boy brings his lunch to Jesus, just a little bit of fish, a little bit of bread, doesn't look like much in his hands. You put it in Jesus' hands, and then you look at the leftovers, you're like, this is crazy. You look at a few of us got together and says, God has an idea, let's start a church.

Church of 1122, doesn't look like much. Now you look at what God is doing today. It's crazy. You look at your bank account. That doesn't look like much. but I'm bringing to God my first and my best and then you look at it and be like, oh my God, I was a part of you.

We're a part of launching campuses and 2,500 people since the one initiative started surrendering their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You're like, God, you have increased the harvest. Verse 11, you will be enriched in every way. To be generous in every way. Money is one of the ways of every way, but that's not all the ways.

That means like peace and contentment and fulfillment, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. Look at this next verse. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for others.

So listen, man, when you, when we show you a video that we were able to bless a widow, if you're generous, you get to think, oh my goodness. God used this little tiny seed, this little tiny seed by faith that I said, okay, Lord, it's yours because of you. And the God took that thing and was able to do what, I mean, any of you all built a house for anybody late? He did, he was part of the video. But anybody else built a house? No, I mean, you can't build a house, right?

you just go to your job and do your thing, and yet you were a part of blessing somebody, and you didn't even know you were a part of it. Paul says in Corinthians that today, right now, we see through a glass dimly, but when we get to heaven, we will see in full. I believe a part of what that means, I believe a part of what that means, is God is going to allow us in a God-glorifying, grace-filled, Jesus-loving way to be able to understand how God used you and your generosity in serving, your generosity in time,

your generosity by taking the gospel on mission trips, your generosity in loving your neighbor and your generosity in bringing your ties and offerings, and you will be able to look around and see people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation and be blown away that God would use our tiny little seed that we would bring and that he would bring a harvest to the very ends of the earth.

And you know what would happen? When God allows you in your glorified state to be able to see how he used you and your generosity, you think you're going to stand there and be like, yep, I'm pretty awesome. I don't think so. I think you're going to bow down before the king of kings and lay whatever crowns that we might have at his feet

and say, holy, holy. holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And we'll sing it over and over and over and over. So let me ask you. Is he the one thing that drives everything? Are you trusting him with your first and with your best? Don't you want to be a part of what God is doing on this earth? And you're like, all,

where do I start? First of all, check your heart. If this is not an act of worship for you, and it's just been routine because you grew up in church and you've been doing this forever, mode as matter, man. Check your heart. What an incredible opportunity right now to say, all right, God, I don't want to be like the hypocrites that just give because that's how my mama taught me.

I want to bring to you, just between me and you, I want to bring to you my first and my best. And it needs to be priority. It needs to be planned. You pick a percentage, and it should be progressive. And then lastly, especially because of the time we're in. If you're like, yeah, pastor, appreciate it, but I just got laid off. like I'm in trouble, then tell your disciple group. Immediately, tell your disciple group.

That's a part of what they are there for. It's part of what we are here for. They will get the information to us and your church loves you and wants to help. And a part of the reason, one of the biggest reasons we're able to help is because of the generosity of others. And so, again, it is like motives matter. And sometimes here's what's crazy. sometimes it's easy for you to write a check than it is for you to admit it, hey, I need some help over here. And God uses both of those things, both of those seeds, to bring a harvest.

And so again, a true disciple of Jesus doesn't merely respond generously to a sermon, but lives a life of generosity in response to the gospel. And now we're going to respond like we always do. No special offering, no, that's it, man. we're going to respond by bringing our first and our best. We do it every single week as an act of demonstration of worshiping God by trusting him in faith with our ties and offerings. And we're going to respond in prayer, prayer.

Every single one of us, every single one of us, no matter where we are on that giving spectrum, whether we're greedy or we're bringing our first and best, every single one of us should invite the Spirit of God to do in us what we can't do in us, to examine us and say, Lord, I want to live a life of generosity. So we do that through prayer. And we're going to sing.

We're going to sing a song called Wake Up. And a part of the reason that I want to sing this song is because we live in a culture in America that lulls us to sleep where most of us are rich, but we don't think we are and we think we're generous and we're really not. And I'm praying that the gospel of Jesus Christ wakes us up so that we can live lives of generosity. Would you please stand and pray with me? Our good and grace is heavenly Father, Lord, we love you because you first loved us. God, you are first.

You are preeminent. There is no one before you. And God, you went first. You love first. God, you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son. And Lord, we confess to you. that most of the time we don't pay attention to what money is doing to us. And so, Lord, would you invade our heart?

Would you convict us? God, I thank you that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation is not the language of you, the Father. But we thank you for the gift of the Spirit that would convict us so that as we open our hands to be more and more generous, God, it releases the grip that money and stuff and status has on us in this world. And so, God, may we be a people that are radically generous with our time, that we're radically generous with the gifts and talents that you've given us and that we're radically generous with our finances and that we just bring to you as an act of worship. What is first and best.

Because you first loved us by giving us your best. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, let us sing, let us bring, let us pray, let us respond.