Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Overflowing Joy

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Money is not a silly or superfluous thing. Money was designed to be our dignity. It answers to something God put down deep in us: that we all need to have part of the world to care for, and without any part of the world to care for, we have no dignity. But what has happened in most of our lives is instead of being our dignity, money has become our definition.  Money is power. It can act destructively or constructively in your life. How can you be sure it’s acting constructively? You know the answer: it’s in the Bible many places. It’s not how much money you have or how little money you have, it all depends on your heart attitude. You have to be freed from money as your definition so that it can become your dignity and you can release its power where it will do the most good. There are three principles that need to be worked down into your heart, and we see them in what Paul says in 2 Corinthians: 1) God owns everything you have, so you have to act like a trustee, 2) Jesus gave everything for you, so you’re freed for radical generosity, and 3) you can take it with you if you invest it in eternal things. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 7, 1990. Series: Ten Commandments 1989. Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel and Life. During January, we're inviting our listeners to consider becoming a Gospel and Life monthly partner. If you'd like to learn more, keep listening at the end of today's podcast for details. Do you ever wish life came with an owner's manual? A guide to follow when you're facing difficult decisions or just trying to live with integrity in the small, everyday moments? Today on Gospel and Life, Tim Keller shows us how the Ten Commandments help us align our lives with God's will, not by restricting us with outdated rules, but by laying the foundation from which we can live a life of true freedom and flourishing. Corinthians chapter 8, and we'll read verses 1 through 15.

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity, for I testified that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, and knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in your love for us,

see that you excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sakes, he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich. And here's my advice about what's best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give, but also to have a desire to do so. So now finish the work. so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according to your means.

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, and so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written, And he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.

This is God's word. We're returning to a series that we gave up about a month ago for Christmassy themes, and that's a series on the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments we're saying are like high steel. You know, the high girders that have to be thrust up into the sky so that a skyscraper can be built on it? In the same way, the Ten Commandments are high steel. steel. The Ten Commandments are not confining chains, chains that confine our human potentiality, nor are the Ten Commandments busy work from some cosmic algebra teacher who's trying to keep us

off the streets. Rather, the Ten Commandments are high steel, a framework on which to build a life of greatness. It is God who comes to us and tells us how to live. Kathy and I have recently just this week, you want me to go up higher? I was looking at my wife. And she said, go up higher. Higher up and further in. Okay. Why not? Captain and I celebrated our anniversary this week.

We went to The Merchant of Venice. And then I came back and read the thing. And one amazing thing that just pushes us is how much racism is in that thing, how much sexism. And here's Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a once in every 200 or 300 years kind of guy. His nobility of spirit, his depth of vision, nobody here, nobody alive probably would claim to be that kind of human being. And yet he was a man of his times. He could not rise above his own times.

And do we think that somehow we have, that we've arrived today, that the popular opinions and values of our time are not going to look just as ridiculous in 800 years or so to other people? Who can tell us what is right, what is noble, and what is good? And the answer is nobody unless there's somebody outside of us and above us and outside of time who can come and tell us what is good and noble and true. And if there isn't a somebody like that, then we are stuck in a swamp of visceral subjectivism, yelling slogans to each other across picket lines, and nobody really being sure who's right.

But God has come to us, and he has said in the Ten Commandments, I invented work, I invented relationships, I invented sex, I invented money, I invented all these things, I know how they operate. Today we come to the Eighth Commandment. Money, thou shalt not steal. The commandments are so remarkably practical. Look at the last seven. Work, family life, human relationships, sex, money, then honesty and inner peace.

Practical enough for you. and God today is talking about thou shalt not steal and this passage that we just read is based on the principles in the Bible that are there in the commandment thou shalt not steal money this shouldn't come to a surprise in this city money is really just a measure of your power money is power now that doesn't surprise New Yorkers a lot of other places people aren't quite as bald about it

The fact is money is simply a measure of how much of the world you control. Money is the measure of how much in the way of how much power you've got to choose. You see, your wealth and your poverty really is a relative thing. It all depends on your ability to choose. Tonight, if you want to go out to eat, the more money you have, the more choices you have. When you want to put something on to wear today, the more money you have, the more choices you have. When you want to find somebody to help you do something you want, the more money you have, the more choices you have, the more of the world you control, the more choices you have, the more power you have. That's all money is. It's a measure of how much of the world you control. Now, does that make money good or bad? I was talking to one of my kids the other day about it, and a kid couldn't remember the point of one of these earlier sermons. And he said, no, let me get this straight. I forget now. Is sex good or bad? well let me ask you another question is fire good or bad and we came up with this basic

approach well it all depends on whether it's in the fireplace or out on the rug and if it's out on if it's if it's out on the rug that at the very best you've got a bad scar and at the very worst you've lost your house and money in the same way the power of money is something which can be released both constructively or destructively in a person's life. See, like sex, money answers to something very deep in the human nature, which God designed down there. Money was designed to be our dignity. Now, listen. Money was designed to be our dignity. There's no human dignity without money. money is not a silly or a superfluous thing. Money answers to something we're going to talk about in a minute that God put down deep in us,

and that is we all need to have part of the world to care for. And without any part of the world to care for, we have no dignity. So money is supposed to be our dignity, but what has happened in most of our lives, because of sin and the effects of sin on us, money has not, instead of being our dignity, money has become our definition. And that's different. And what that does then is that turns money into a destructive power in your life. It eats you up.

Just like sex was built to be our joy, but it's turned into our definition. That's what we said. We talked about that a few weeks ago. If you need to be attractive, if you need to have sex to be attractive so you feel good about yourself, like you're a worthwhile person, so you know that you have personhood, then what has happened. happen to sex is no longer your joy, it's your definition. In the same way, money has become that to many of us, many of us. It's money out of which we get our personhood. It's no longer our dignity, it's our definition. Last night, I was at a conference. Yesterday I was at a conference, and I bought a book, and I was reading it on the way home. It has a great story in there by the author of the book was talking to a man who had gone through Alcoholics Anonymous, and he was telling her the experience. And in many, in many, in many, Many of you, I'm sure, understand this experience and know it firsthand. The man said when he first came to Alcoholics Anonymous, they came to him and they said,

your big initial problem is denial, right? The first problem is denial. You have to see that you have an enslavement that's bigger than you can handle. And that only God can help you and will stand by you. And he said, when I finally got that through, I was able to get out of my problem. And the author said to him, that's great. That's what the church ought to be like. And the man smiled at the author and said to her,

Can I tell you the first time I went to church as a drunk? They basically looked at me and said, when you got your act together, you can come back. And he said, I began to realize later on that that was an act of denial itself. When you say, well, listen, when you get your act together, when you get the enslavements out of your life,

you can come back here. That implies that there's no enslavements here. We've got our act together. And he says that is an act of denial. That's the ultimate act of denial. And anybody who knows the Bible knows he's right. Because every one of us starts with something that we're enslaved to, something that's our God, something that is our personhood,

something that we're enslaved by. And anybody who says, when you come back, come back when you get your act together, that attitude is that we don't have any enslavements here. There's all kinds of enslavements here. And in many of our cases, it's money. Because it's money from which we get our personhood. It's money from which we get our definition. And some of you say,

I wish I had enough money for it to be a problem. It can be just as much of a problem for a person without it as a person with it. As you sure know, or as you're certainly going to demonstrate. Money is power. It can act destructively or constructively in your life. How can you be sure it's acting constructively? How can you be sure? The answer is, you know the answer.

It's in the Bible many places. It all depends on your heart. It's not how much money you've got or how little money you've got. It depends on your heart attitude. And in this passage, there are three principles that have to be screwed down into your heart. In fact, you have to constantly do it. And as you work them down into your heart, the way you work chocolate chips into the dough when you're making chocolate chip cookies, you've got to work your way in.

It takes time. Sometimes it's hard. You have to work these three principles into your life. And if you do, you will be free from money as you're going to work. your definition and it will become your dignity and the power that money can be released into the world. Money is power, but you've got to be freed from it as your definition so it can become your dignity and you can actually release its power where it'll do the most good. These three principles have got to be gripped. Do you know what they are? They're here. The reason they're

here is this passage is a fundraising letter. Oh my word, even in the Bible. A fundraising letter. 2 Corinthians 8, verses 1 to 15. Paul is trying to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, and he's talking to the Corinthians, and he's trying to get them to give, and he's doing it by talking to them about how the Macedonians have given. And because the Macedonians have given, Paul shows why they were so liberated from the need for things,

from the need for money as a definition. and they were freed from that so they were able to release the power of their money into the world to do good and he brings these three principles out friends we need these three principles you keep saying okay what are they but before I tell you what they are

think isn't it possible that money's got too much of a hold on you that it's too much of your definition worry about money envy of people who've got it and a fondling of things the things that you've got, a fondling of them, a kind of taking comfort in the nice things that you've got. These are evidences of the definition, money being your definition.

The three principles that Paul talks about are these. Number one, God owns everything that you've got. Number two, Jesus impoverished himself for you, and number three, you can take it with you. There's three principles here. God owns everything you've got so you've got to act like a trustee. number one. Number two, Jesus gave everything for you so you're free for radical generosity. And number three, you can take it with you if you invest it in eternal things. Now, those three principles, let's just run down them. There's far more in each one of them

than we can open up this morning, but let's go. Number one, God owns everything. Look, verse five, and they did not, he's talking about the Macedonians. The reason the Macedonians gave, It says though they had severe trial, overflowing joy, and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. Why? Because they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us. The Macedonians had

literally in verse 3, it tells us the Macedonians were already poor. It even says rock bottom poverty. And yet they gave themselves first to the Lord and then they made a donation. Now why? Paul cannot mean the Macedonians gave them their hearts to the Lord for the first time. It can't mean that because that would have meant they weren't Christians. Any Christian is somebody who's given

them, you know, a Christian somebody who's given your heart to the Lord. What they must mean, what Paul must mean then is this. The Macedonians saw a need, but they also recognized their own poverty. What were they going to respond to? They responded to the fact that they were

owned by God, that they were already God, that God owned them. They recognized it. They responded to. it, they rejoiced in it, and as a result, they were, see what happened, they were liberated from their need for things as a personal definition. And as they got rid of money as a definition, just imagine the dignity that they realized that they had. Think of the usefulness they felt. Think of the dignity they had and the power of their money, what little money they had, was released into the life of the poor in Jerusalem, and it had a powerful impact. And the thing

that liberated them to do that was the knowledge that they've already belonged to God, that they were only trustees, that everything they had, everything they were, belonged to God. That's the first principle. It's everywhere in the Bible. Psalm 24, verse 1. The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. Job 41, verse 11 or 12 or 13, somewhere around there where God says, everything under heaven is mine. Now, the first reaction of the average person, when they hear that is, wait a minute, wait a minute. I have worked my whatever off to get where I am now. What do you mean everything I have is his?

And the answer to that is, oh, you worked your whatever off, but where'd you get your whatever? Why weren't you born mentally disabled like a lot of people? Where'd you get the brain you have? Where'd you get the health you have? You know, you are living in a country right now where a person who delivers papers makes more than 70% of the rest of the world's laborers. Lots of people would like to live here. You do.

My question to you is, where did you get the wherewithal to do all this hard work that you've done? And the answer is it was a gift. Just as Adam was put into the world to take care of it, it was a gift to him. So your wealth has been given to you. And just as Adam was put in the world,

not as an owner, but as a trustee of what was given to him, so you are a trustee of everything you've got. Now, that doctrine of trusteeship cuts two ways. Two ways now. Here we go into economic theory. And what am I talking to you about this for? But here it goes. On the one hand, it means this. If Adam was a trustee, that means we were built something deep down inside us. We were built for trusteeship. We were built to have things to take care of. There is no human dignity. There is no real being in the

image of God unless you've got a piece of the world to care for. Dignity comes as you have something to care for. You have to have something. Because Adam was built that way, and therefore we're all built that way. Man was built that way. And this is the reason, for example, that everybody I've ever talked to who went to prison told me why it was so dehumanizing was not that you couldn't move around when you wanted to, but the fact is that your possessions were taken away from you. It was so dehumanizing was to have everything taken away and then a few things given back.

It's the reason that extreme socialism and collectivism is so dehumanizing and why it's failed. It's the reason why neighborhoods generally where people own their own homes do look a lot better than places where people do not. We were built. We have to have something which is ours to care for. It's dehumanizing. It's de-personizing. We are less than humans.

We're less than what God created us for. We have no dignity if we don't have something to take care of. Yeah. Yeah. That's dehumanizing. You see, a person who's got everything that you own, the only part of the world that you've got is what you, is what you, you know, you've got on your back or in your pockets. That's dehumanizing. But there's another side to it. The other side to it is if that means that we're all trustees and only trustees, then we are only, we only own things in the secondary sense, right? We don't have ultimate ownership over it. It might be that we enjoy. it. And listen, trustee, it means you enjoy it. If somebody gives you a car to take care of, there's a sense in which you enjoy the car more than the owner. You're the one who is in it. You're the one who cares for. You're the one who drives it. You enjoy it. And yet, how it's used ultimately has got to be, the shots have got to be called by the owner. His priority for what you've been given, his values have got to be honored. And if you don't honor it, you are a thief.

Right? If someone gives you a pile of money and says this much I want for this and this much I want for that, it's not yours, you're a trustee. You can enjoy it, but if you do not give it where the owner says to give it, you're not just being stingy, you're being a thief. You're an embezzler. That's the reason why, fundamentally, Christianity is a different economic system. Because capitalism actually says, whose money is it? It's your money and you can do what you want. Fundamentally, communism and socialism says, whose money is it? It's the peoples, and you must do with it as the community needs. And Christianity says, whose money is it? It's gods, and you must do as he directs. Those are three fairly different approaches, wouldn't you say?

We all chase things like success, true love, or the perfect life. Good things that can easily become ultimate things. When we put our faith in them, deep down, we know they can't satisfy our deepest longings. The truth is that we've made lesser gods of good things, things that can't give us what we really need. In his book, Counterfeit Gods, the empty promises of money, sex, and power, and the only hope that matters, Tim Keller shows us how a proper understanding of the Bible reveals the truth about societal ideals and our own hearts, and shows us that there is only one God who can wholly satisfy our desires. This month, we'll send you counterfeit gods as our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the love of Christ with people all over the world.

You can request your copy at Gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching. Now, put all that in light of everything. That means that your trustees and you live in a land of trustees and a world of trustees and what is stealing. What does it mean to steal? How can you steal?

And the Bible tells us, therefore, there's two different things, two different kinds of thievery. Now listen to this. The first kind of thievery is when we refuse to honor the caretaker rights of other human beings. I hope you see now that what somebody owns, that what somebody has to take care of is fundamental to that person's dignity. And to infringe on their rights, things that God has given them is to assault their dignity and assault their very humanity. And that's the reason why stealing is in the Ten Commandments is so serious. Now, we know the obvious forms. There's blue-collar forms like pickpocketing and robbery, and there's white-collar forms,

like money laundering, embezzling, and insider training. Those are obvious, though. They're wrong. But there's a lot less obvious ones. If you do not do your best work, you're robbing your employer. If you slough on your time, you're robbing your employer. Hey, have you heard the story about the 32-year-old lawyer that went to heaven? He died one day, went to heaven, and he gets to the gate, and he says,

you didn't expect this, did you? He says, what am I doing here? I'm a young man. I shouldn't be here yet. And, you know, the angel at the gate says, well, it says right here, you're 96 years old. It's your time. And the man says, wait a minute, you don't understand. I'm 32 years old. There must be some mistake. And he said, oh, I see. We added up your time sheets. But listen, if you're a lawyer, I'm sorry, but what about mechanics? What about accountants? If you do not do your best work, you're stealing. The car that you sold, that you know that if he knew everything you know about the car,

you'd never get what you asked for, what you did. If you make a bad product, a product that unravels, if you make a product that doesn't really satisfy, even though people will buy it because they're too foolish yet to see, that you're giving them amusements that don't amuse, an education that doesn't educate, if you just do shoddy work, you're stealing from the people. If you don't pay your employees enough,

if you cheat on your income taxes, if you pad your expense account, oh my, you have got to honor the caretaker rights of others, but that's the first kind of stealing. The second kind of stealing is you've got to honor the owner's rights over your own wealth or you're stealing. In Malachi chapter three, God says, will you rob me? How can you rob God? You rob me in tithes and offerings. Now what this means is simply this. If everything you own is is God's, And he says in his word, I want a significant amount of my money to go to three causes. Do you know what they are?

The Bible commands that you be generous toward three causes. Generous. Number one, God's work, the kingdom. Number two, the poor, and number three, God's people with needs. God's work in the kingdom, the poor, and God's people with their needs. There's a place in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28, where it says, let the thief no longer steal, but let him give and be generous. Did you hear that?

You either are a thief or you're generous. If you're not generous, you're a thief. Why? Remember this. It's because if you own the money, really own the money that you have, and someone asked you to please give to God's work, please give to the poor, please give to these needy Christians over here, and you said no, then you'd be stingy.

But if you're a trustee and you say no, then you're a trustee. and you say no, then you are a robber. That's why God can actually say in Ephesians 428, if you're not generous, you're a thief. Why he can say in Malachi 3, if you're not generous, you're a robber. Why he can say constantly in the Bible, do justice to the poor? What do you mean justice?

You see, there's plenty of people, I guess, who are poor because they've been dishonest, but there's plenty of people who are poor, most people who are poor, not because they're dishonest. And most of the people, I believe, who are better off, are not, not better off because they're dishonest. So how can God say you must do justice to the poor?

What's unjust about holding on to what I earned? And the answer is, God says that's my money up there. The reason you've got it is I've given you more. I gave you more talent. I gave you more help. I gave you more providential care. I gave it to you. I want you to be generous with it.

If not, you're being unjust. I've earmarked big parts of what you own, which is really what I own, for other people. And unless you let go of it, it will destroy you. If you make your money and your standard of living your definition, it will no longer be your dignity, it'll be your shame, and it'll strangle you, and all that power that you're sitting on will not be released out into the world. Hmm.

That's the second kind of stealing. A lack of generosity. There's two kinds of stealing. Now, the question that comes up almost immediately is, well, okay, now you've made me feel pretty guilty, but I'm not sure I feel liberated yet. I feel terrible. But I don't feel liberated.

And what do you mean? A portion. How much? I need to know this. I have no idea if I'm being generous or not. And the answer is it's not quite what you want. You see, the second principle, the first principle that you need to screw into your heart was what?

God owns everything and you're only a trustee. The second principle of financial liberation is brought right out here in verse 8. this is the heart of it all. Paul says, I am not commanding you. Did you hear that? Nobody, even Paul the Apostle. Now, surely Paul the Apostle could do it,

but he said it wasn't even his place to come to you to any individual and say, here's how much you have to give. Even Paul couldn't do that. And instead, he says, I can't command you, but I want to test whether or not you remember, that you remember and you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. You will never be financial liberated unless you look at the grace of Christ, because the grace of Christ will liberate you in two ways.

The experience of the grace of Christ changes your heart, and the model of the grace of Christ gives you a rule of thumb. The experience changes your heart, and the model gives you a rule of thumb. The experience means, do you know, was there ever a time in your life where you came and you said, saw that no matter what's in your bank account, you are a sinner, that you're spiritually poor. Has that ever happened to you? Jesus Christ comes to us and says, listen, no matter what's in your bank account, your love, your integrity, your honesty, your, your morality, you are not living the way you should. You are not, you are not good.

And therefore, I have got to die for you. And I've got to pay your penalty. And now that I paid your penalty, if you receive me as your Savior, you have got real riches. The riches of adoption. I'll bring you into my family, the riches of acceptance, I'll give you my righteousness, the riches of power. I will put my life in you. Those are the real riches. And when you know the real riches, you know what happens.

You begin to look at your physical riches in a different way. If you know the grace of Christ, it changes the way in which you look at your physical riches. Let me give you two examples to show how psychologically a Christian is transformed in your attitude. If you were dying and you knew you were dying and I came to you and I said, guess what? I'm a doctor and the Food and Drug Administration has finally just let out this particular kind of medicine and it will definitely cure you and only this medicine will cure you and it's 100% sure to cure you. However, you may not want to pay for it because it's extremely, expensive. You may have to, you know, sell your home and move and live into a, you know, a little,

you might live with a friend. You might have to get rid of your compact disc player. You might have to sell your stock. You might have to, you might have to impoverish yourself. So you probably don't want this medicine. And you would look at me and you would say, are you kidding? What good is my compact disc player if I don't have that medicine? What good is my home if I don't have this medicine? All these things that used to be so important to me, they used to give me so much meaning, these things suddenly are pale. It's almost like when that medicine comes, it's like the sun has come out so I can't see the stars, all these other things that used to be important to me are now expendable. This is so precious to me that all these other things are little if I don't have that.

To you who believe in Jesus Christ, he is precious. And everything else in your life that used to define you has now become eternally and utterly expendable. It changes the way you look at it. And that's why Paul can say, do you know the grace of Jesus Christ? Do you know that you're spiritually poor no matter whatever it was in your bank account? And do you know that you've got real riches? And if you've got the real riches that Jesus can give you, do you realize that changes your your attitude toward everything else? Do you know that? To the extent that you know that, there's that liberation. The experience of grace, gives us a change in our personality, but the model of Christ's grace gives us the rule of thumb.

You see, Jesus Christ gave everything, and people are constantly saying to me, how much should I be giving to God's work and to the poor and to needy Christians? How much? Don't forget that I can't, I can't tell you. Paul couldn't tell you for goodness sakes, but I'll tell you this. Don't press me. I mean, Paul wouldn't do it, and after all, he had more authority than I do. But there's three guidelines, and here's what they are. Number one, the tithe.

You know, the Old Testament required all believers to give a tenth of their income each year. A tenth. And the New Testament doesn't say much about the tenth. It doesn't say very much about the tithe except very indirectly. So what are we to conclude? I'll tell you what we can conclude. We can conclude this. Are we more blessed or less blessed than Old Testament believers?

You tell me. Are we more indebted or less indebted than Old Testament believers? Testament believers. Are we more responsible or less responsible than Old Testament believers? More! All the way down the line. So the real question is, is it possible that the New Testament is says, well, the Old Testament is required to give a tenth of their income, but for you, the reason the New Testament doesn't bring up the tithe is because Jesus did not tithe his life or we'd all be lost. The point is, the New Testament, I believe, assumes the Old Testament. The only possible explanation is the Old Testament, the Old Testament standard is a rock bottom minimum.

I mean, it was just a given. It was a rule of thumb. It says, that's where you start. Number two, the tide is one guideline. Number two, the second line, the second guideline is your lifestyle. We're told here in verse three that the Macedonians gave what? Not in according to their means. They gave as much as they were able and beyond their ability. What does beyond their ability mean? I'll tell you what beyond their ability means. Ordinarily, the limitations on your giving are your own needs and then a prudent, salting away of money for future needs and emergencies, right? And then beyond that, you give. What these Macedonian Christians did was they cut into their lifestyle.

They said, we're going to give to the place where it actually changes how we live. It changes the level of our necessities. I would have to say that the giving that we're talking about in 2nd Corinthians 8 means it's radical enough, so it changes how you live. If it doesn't, you're only giving God the leftovers. Haven't you heard about this true story about the farmer? They said, unbelievable. I thought my cow was going to have one calf,

and she had two calves. When they grow up, I'm going to sell one of them and give all the proceeds to the Lord. And the wife said, that's fantastic. It was just a couple months later where the guy came on in and said, what a horrible day. You know what happened today? It was so sad.

The Lord's calf died. And the wife says, I don't remember that we decided which one was which. Oh, yes. He says, I remember. I said the first day, that's the Lord's calf. And what a shame, the Lord's calf died, and it always is the Lord's calf that died in our life. Jonathan Edwards some years ago wrote a tract on giving. And in the tract, he said this,

The gospel obliges us to give when we are in distress to those in greater distress than us. How else will we bear one another's burdens? Now listen to this. If we never relieve others' burdens but when we can do it without being burdened ourselves, How then do we bear our neighbor's burden when we bear no burden at all? I know that's hard to understand because it's logical and we're modern people. Let me explain that to you. He says, it says bear one another's burdens.

When we say I can't afford to give, what we mean is I can't afford to give without it actually burdening me. If I give, then some of the burden of this need will shift over into me. I won't be able to do something that I want to do. And Edward says, if you never give, unless, It doesn't burden you. You're not bearing anybody's burdens. You haven't gone out there and give. You're not giving in a way that bears other burdens until you feel the burdens themselves come on to you because of the extent of you're giving. The tithe is a guideline. Cutting into your lifestyle is a guideline. And the last guideline is you need to be excited. And this might sound silly. You shouldn't just give because, oh my gosh, I'm guilty. You should get close enough to needs and people and causes that you say, I can be part of this. I can be involved in this. I want to give. give into this and then you'll feel the liberation happen. Jesus Christ's model is the rule of thumb. It's radical generosity and if you know the grace of God, you'll be liberated.

Well, I got to conclude. Remember what the third principle was? I'll give it to you in a sentence. You can take it with you. Paul said right now, if you give, you're in plenty and they're in one, but someday you might find that they might be in plenty and you might be in one. He's saying take the long view. But let's take the real long view.

The Bible says, put your money into things that last. If you had a teenage daughter who got an inheritance from somebody of $20,000 and she went out and bought Donnie and Marie Osmond Records, you would say, what a stupid thing to do. Why didn't you invest it in something that would bear dividends? What an awful way to use your money. Listen, friends, only one billionth of your entire existence is going to be spent here on earth.

You understand that? When the sun is so old that it dies, we're all going to be around to see that. And the real question is, are you putting the power of your money into things that will outlast the sun? Most of the things we put our money into are going to burn up with it. But people who don't die, and the work of the Lord and the Word of God, which doesn't pass away, these are things that if you put your money into people, you put your money into the work of the kingdom, into the things that your owner says you should put your money into, if you get rid of your thievery by your stinginess,

you will find you're putting your money into things that last. If you know the grace of Christ, you know, some of you, one of the weird things about New York, one of the weird things about New York, is that almost every other place, generally people flock together in a congregation of rather similar kinds of income levels, not here, as you know. Some of you are scared because you're really not sure where your next bite is going to come from.

Matthew 6 says, don't be afraid. Consider the fact that God takes care of the birds of the air and the grass of the field, and you're much more important in the birds of the air. Reason with yourself. Don't envy and hate yourself because you don't have any money because you haven't had the career you want. Don't go along with the way most people go who take money as their definition. Look at Matthew 6, realize he's going to care for you, and let the money you've got become your dignity.

And those of you who've got the money, you're sitting on a powder keg. Don't drift along with the way in which your wealth will probably take you, which is this, the more money you have, the more you feel this deep need for security, the bigger you feel the cushion's got to be, you're sitting on a powder keg. And the money could be just so powerfully released into the world, so powerfully released. Robert Murray McShane was a Scottish minister. And I'll close with this quote. A Scottish minister preached in Scotland over 150 years ago.

And he preached a sermon on giving. And this sermon is just so powerful because he takes exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8 and says, do you know the grace of Christ? And if you do, feel the logic. Oh, my dear friends, if he would be like Christ and you pray that you will be, become like him in giving. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. objection someone says my money is my own answer well christ might have said my blood is my own my life is my own and then where would you be

objection but many people in need are undeserving answer christ might have looked at you and said look at these wicked rebels should i lay down my life for these no i will give to the good angels the deserving poor but no he left the 99 sheep and came after the lost he gave his blood to the undeserving objection but people who i give my money too much abuse it, answer. Christ might have said the same thing with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet, that most would despise it, that many would make his blood an excuse for sinning more. And yet he gave his own blood. My dear Christians, if you want to be like Christ, give much, give off, and give freely, even to the vile, even to the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so shall you be.

It's not your money I want, it's your happiness. Remember his own word. It's more blood. that it's more happy to give than to receive. Let's pray. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's Word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelonlife.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 1990. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017,

while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.