Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning, 945.
[00:00:07] Good morning. For those of you not on spring break, you are the godly, the faithful.
[00:00:14] All right, welcome to our last message on generosity. And I want to just take a few minutes and I want to bring us up to speed. For those of you who maybe didn't hear one of the messages or you're new with us, I want to just lay some foundations so that we are all on the same page. Over the last two weeks, weeks, we learned that generosity does not begin until or after our obligations and our responsibilities have been met. So we define the generous person like this. The generous person is one who goes above and beyond. Above and beyond what? Their obligations and their responsibilities, they go above and beyond and intentionally are looking to bless others, others at their own expense. Over the last two weeks, we saw two big generosity killers. Here's killer number one, spending our money in a worldly way. And so a couple weeks ago, we looked at the world's way of budgeting. Goes like this. The first of my income, it goes to my living expenses. It goes to my home, my car, my utilities.
[00:01:26] Next we play. The next part of my income goes to eating out and vacations and fun. And then if I have money left over, then we save for our future. And for most people, that's where all the money goes and it's done. But for some, we then give. Maybe nothing, maybe something small, maybe 1 to 2%. Always an afterthought. And then finally we pray. Oh, Lord God, help me. I'm out of money to spend on myself. Please give me more. That is the world's method of budgeting, and it is a plague in the church across the United States and the world. God has a better way. The scriptures give us a more biblical way to go about things. This is God's budgeting rhythm. And the first is this. We pray. We say, lord, everything I have is yours. And then what do you want me to give to my church family? And then we give. And then we save, because future us is going to need money. And then we live. We take care of our standard of living. And our standard of living is based off of our standard of giving and our standard of saving. And then we play vacations, have fun. That's wonderful. And then generosity begins. This is where generosity begins, after our obligations and our responsibilities have been met. The second generosity killer is the struggle to trust, specifically in pastors, spiritual leaders, nonprofits and churches. And so last week, we just dealt with this kind of head on. And what we attempted to do was to Right size some of the exaggerated concerns. So I reminded us that over 99% of pastors, elders, deacons, staff, volunteer church leaders have nothing to do with the scandals that you see on the news. And of all the churches that make it to the news, they are less than 1% of all the churches. But if investigative journalism is the only news media you take in, you will begin to be paranoid that every spiritual leader everywhere is a current or impending threat to your soul, which is not true. And for the many of us who have been hurt by the 1%, and that is real, the temptation is to take that real hurt by the less than 1% and then to assign that to the 99% to protect.
[00:04:02] And so my encouragement to you is this. Know who hurt you and why? Specifically you were hurt. And this is very important because Jesus didn't hurt you.
[00:04:16] Someone did.
[00:04:19] The entire church didn't hurt you. Usually it's a person or a group of people who did. And so we want to right size these so we can protect ourselves from punishing the 99% who are going to love you very well. All right, now, Second Corinthians, Chapter 9, if you have a Bible, please open up there. I wanna set some context. The Corinthians, this church, this local church family, they made a very sizable financial commitment. It was very generous. It was above and beyond all their responsibilities. They made it very sizable financial commitment to the destitute struggling church family in Jerusalem. The committed gift was so large that it would take roughly one to two years for the families of the church to save up week by week. And so Paul told them, every week, as the money comes in, you set aside some money in your home, you save it so that when the time for the offering comes, you guys are ready. The committed gift, it was so large, it became the standard of generosity amongst the churches in the first century. So Paul would like go from church to church and basically be like you guys have. Let me just tell you what the Corinthians did. I mean, they didn't just go above and beyond. They were. It was astounding. So he bragged about them. And the Corinthian church was essentially the pacesetter of generosity for the other churches in the first century. The committed gift was so large, Paul would be bragging about them everywhere he went. The committed gift was so large, it was going to require the oversight of at least four leaders from outside of the church who were appointed by other cheat leaders to protect the money. And the committed gift was so large that it drew the attention of some pretty nefarious people who. Second Corinthians, calls them the super apostles. And the super apostles saw the money that was being set aside, and they really, really wanted to get access to it. And so they subtly crept them their way into the church and began to build a wedge of trust between the Apostle Paul and the offering. And it basically went something like this. The Apostle Paul is going to pilfer the money, milk, some off the top. It's not going to get to where you promised. And then the net result of this was that the Corinthians actually stopped saving because their trust in Paul had been broken by this group of people. What they didn't know is that these super apostles, all they wanted was the opportunity to reallocate those funds to their own personal ministries or pocketbooks. The Lord sent in a pastor named Titus who healed the rift, exposed the super apostles, and now the Corinthians and the Apostle Paul are reunited back together. The liars are exposed. The truth is good. Everyone's excited. Second Corinthians, chapter nine. Paul is writing them, and he is saying this. Get your finances in order, because I'm coming shortly to take the offering that you promised a long time ago. And by the way, I'm sending this team ahead of me to kind of oversee the process so that no one could accuse anyone of anything.
[00:07:46] So to set this context further, look at verse two of chapter nine. He says, I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia, Achaia is like the state, Corinth is the city, so Achaia is the region. Achaia, where Corinth is, has been ready since last year. And then he says to them, your zeal, basically your commitment, your financial commitment, which is a reflection of your excitement to serve and minister to the church in Jerusalem, your zeal has stirred up most of them. Verse 3. But I am sending the brothers, this is the entourage, to oversee the offerings, so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would. I told everybody you're going to be ready. So please don't make me look stupid, okay? Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me, which they will, and find that you're not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident in you. Verse 5. So I thought it necessary to prevent all this humiliation, to urge the brothers, this entourage, to go on ahead of you to you, and arrange in advance for the gift, by the way, it's the gift you've promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift and not as an exaction. Like, here's what Paul wants. I don't want to show up and have to have a weird conversation. You made a promise. We've already made plans and started moving on that promise. I've told everybody about your promise. So like, you don't get to not keep your promise because then everybody looks bad, you look bad, we look bad, and the ministry doesn't happen. So that's a weird conversation and nobody wants to have it. So Paul's trying to prevent this. Now to our text for the morning. Second Corinthians, chapter nine, verse six. And Paul identifies, I think two of the most common generosity hesitations. Here's the first hesitation.
[00:09:37] What if I over commit? Or if I've already given, what if I have over committed? So verse six, Paul says this about their financial commitment.
[00:09:49] The point is this the point of 2 Corinthians 8:915. Everything I've been trying to say. Here's the point.
[00:09:57] Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will. Will also reap bountifully. So this is an agricultural metaphor. Let me say this first negative. And then we'll say this positively. Here's the negative.
[00:10:17] I you, I won't see any more spiritual fruit than I invest in Jesus Kingdom.
[00:10:28] Let's say this positively, okay? Those who invest into Jesus Kingdom are the ones who get to experience first hand spiritual fruit, okay? Have you ever wondered why you may not have the opportunity to see more spiritual fruit in people's lives? Can we just agree on this? The Lord is moving all the time, transforming people, convicting people, changing people, doing incredible things in people's lives. Can I get an Amenville church? Like we know it's happening. Like, have you ever been like, I feel like I don't really get to hear or see much of what Jesus is doing. I want to. Two primary reasons I think most people don't get to see firsthand. Like you hear stories, but you don't get to see firsthand what Jesus is doing. Number one, you're not investing. And I'm not just talking about money, I'm talking about ministry here. You're not investing, so you're not reaping. The people who invest into God's kingdom, they're gonna get the opportunity to see the bountiful harvest. So one option is like, I'm not seeing it because I'm not intentionally investing into Jesus kingdom. The other reason that people don't see it is because most people aren't expecting it. So therefore, they don't look for it. Let me just tell you what happens.
[00:11:52] Sixteen times a year, we have a staff meeting where this question is asked. The front end of the meeting, the question is, what spiritual fruit is God bearing in your ministry or your life?
[00:12:07] And what we do with these meetings is we actually take the whole first 30 to 45 minutes of the meeting and we just listen. So one of the perks of being on staff is that with the job comes the opportunity to kind of be on the front lines of ministry. And so here's what happens.
[00:12:26] For 30, 40, 50 minutes one week, we had an hour and a half of people just sharing the fruit, the spiritual fruit of what they have seen God do in people's lives and hearts, sometimes their own life and heart. And I'm gonna be honest with you guys. It is like one of my favorite meetings of the entire month. It is an absolute delight because I need to be reminded on a regular basis that God is moving in people's lives, transforming people, changing them, convicting them, encouraging them. They're becoming more like Jesus. And so this time for me, has just been a reminder, like the Lord is moving and up to some incredible, beautiful things. And one of the reasons we get to see the fruit is, is because we are on the front lines of making investments. Now, you don't have to be on staff to make an investment into ministry. Can I get an amen from that one as well? You're in ministry whether you're called to ministry, whether you like it or not. And so we have the opportunity to invest into Jesus's kingdom. Now, we often talk about the sower. I wanna just take a moment, and I wanna help you understand what the seed is, okay?
[00:13:36] The seed specifically. And this is gonna be very important as we talk through the rest of chapter nine. The seed refers to. This is the thing. You get a seed, you throw it into the ground, right? And you hope that it grows and bears fruit. The seed that every single one of us have that he's referring to is one of two things. It is either, number one, money that you invest into Jesus's kingdom, or number two, it is ministry that you invest into Jesus's kingdom. And that's what Paul's referring to here. So every single person has access to money into ministry. And here's his point. If you want to see the spiritual fruit, you have to take the seed, right? And you have to actually plant it or sow it or spread it out under the ground. And so we look at people, we just say, listen, if you want to get a front row seat to what God is doing, jump in with money or ministry and you will begin to see God bear spiritual fruit. Now, Paul should never have to write chapters eight and nine. And I want to remind you of this. The Corinthians already, like, over a year prior to the writing of this letter, they already prayed about what they were going to give. They already made a financial commitment, specifically each household. And Paul's not asking them to give more than what they already committed.
[00:14:59] So here's what I have found. Living my own life and being a pastor. It is not uncommon to make money or ministry commitments with a clear head and a pure heart. And then later want to take it back.
[00:15:17] Some of you are like, yep, I'm in that situation right now. Okay, for Paul, your word, your commitment, it wasn't something you take back.
[00:15:32] Keeping your word keeps your honor. Keeping your word glorifies our God, who always keeps his word.
[00:15:43] In the first century, to not keep your word was culturally a disgrace.
[00:15:50] It was dishonorable. And Paul is trying to protect the Corinthians from being culturally disgraced and dishonorable in that they made a commitment. And now he's like, you need to follow through. Because as simply as he could say it, you're Christians. And if there's anybody in the world who keeps our word even when it's inconvenient, it's a Christian. So verse 7. Paul has clear instructions for these moments when you make a commitment with a clear head and a pure heart.
[00:16:25] Verse 7. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. Okay, there are two appropriate ways a pastor or a spiritual leader can preach this text. Here's the first way you preach it as an encouragement. Okay. Hey, church people of God, it's a need, and we want to ask you to meet this need. Go pray about it. Pray and ask God, Lord, how do you want me to respond? Do you want me to respond? And then whatever you and the Lord work out, then communicate that and then follow through, right? Because we're believers. This is what we do. We pray, we make a commitment, we follow through. And big picture, like, don't let anybody pressure you or manipulate you. That's not the way we do things. If you catch Jesus's vision and he moves you to go do something, and you Pray about it and you can make a commitment. This is what we want you guys to do. So go do that.
[00:17:26] And then as a Christian, whatever you commit to doing, we follow through because we keep God's word. Amen. Let's go. Let's meet the need. That's one way. And that is appropriate, depending on the context.
[00:17:35] This is usually the way I preach it to village church because there's. I don't really have a history of village church making commitments and not following through. So praise God. Thank you for that. You're incredible. Okay. The second way to preach this text is the way Paul was preaching it to the Corinthians as a warning.
[00:17:53] It would go something like this.
[00:17:56] You are obligated by the spiritual contract, your word.
[00:18:05] And you must, before Jesus, do what you promised.
[00:18:14] Paul's reminding them, a year ago, you made a promise, you made a commitment.
[00:18:21] And before Jesus, if you don't fulfill your commitment, it's sin. And we, we made plans based on your commitment. So don't leave us hanging. Don't leave the church in Jerusalem hanging. Like, this is your opportunity to be a Christian and do the thing you said you were going to do. And there are consequences for this. And you'll kind of see this as the text unfolds. But Paul might look at them and say something like this, Corinthians, if you do not fulfill your commitment, your word, your promise, God may very well withhold financial blessings because of your stinginess.
[00:19:04] Because. And this is their circumstance. The primary reason you've been blessed financially was for this purpose.
[00:19:11] I don't know why you've been blessed financially. Right? But when the Lord shows you why he gave you this extra, and you know where he wants you to put it, and you go, change my mind, whoops, right?
[00:19:25] God can't trust you, so his future resources, he's going to reallocate to somebody else he can trust. This is the parable of the talents. God values good stewardship. And so every one of us, we're given this money and this ministry, and then we go, we pray. God, how do you want me to handle my time, my talents, my resources? What do you want me to do? And then when we make a commitment, here's what we do. We follow through, through to the end on our commitment. Why? Because we're Christians. Okay, so what if, what if I over commit or over committed?
[00:19:59] Personally, I have done this. And let me, let me just tell you the experience that I have had every time that I have made a promise to somebody and did not Keep it or committed to something that I did not follow through on nags at my soul.
[00:20:16] Like, before preaching this sermon, I had to really due diligence in my own heart, Lord. I don't want to get up and have unfulfilled commitments to people in my life. Is there anybody that I have maybe made a promise to or not kept my word, Lord? Because I really don't want to be preaching and have the Holy Spirit in the back of my head being like, hey doofus, like, this is you, right? And so like just doing the work of my own heart before I stand in front of you.
[00:20:41] But let me just tell you, when I am in those moments, every time I pray, it's like it just, it's in my brain. It's just, it's like a worm digging its hole into my soul and I'm like, uh. And so I've learned that it is way better for my relationship with God and my integrity to go and deal with that the moment I realize it's there. So let me, let me just give you four solutions for the over committed. Number one, always take responsibility for your part.
[00:21:09] There is a plague of responsibility taking in our culture and Christians should be on the front lines of owning our part without excuses.
[00:21:20] Number two, ask for forgiveness for any negligence on your part. I don't know why we're so afraid to ask forgiveness and to confess when everybody knows we already didn't do it anyways. But there's something powerful that happens. Most people, like I found in church, like almost everybody is willing to go, yeah, totally forgiven. And my trust and confidence in you is renewed and higher than when we even started because I know you have a heart of humility.
[00:21:46] Number three, if possible, ask for a later due date on your commitment. Something might have come up. There might have been a trauma or tragedy or a foolish decision you made that is not allowing you to actually fulfill this and just say, hey, could I, could we just postpone this? Because I want to keep my word. It's really important to me. And then there are some circumstances where you might have made a commitment and it is impossible for you to ever fulfill it. And so if a later date is not reasonable, ask for release from your commitment. I have never been in a circumstance where somebody asked to be released from a commitment, where the person said to them, fulfill it anyways. Just never seen it. And when you are released from this, it is a wonderful, beautiful freedom. And then when you go back to your prayer life, this thing isn't nagging at you. And Destroying, distracting you from your relationship with God. All right, this brings us to our second generosity hesitation.
[00:22:41] What if I will need this money this time, this resource later?
[00:22:50] Which is code for the actual hesitation, which is, what if God doesn't meet my future needs? So for those who choose generosity, for those who choose giving above and beyond. And you are nervous about your future, by the way, that's most people. Whenever you give generously, it's like, how are we? This is important money. This makes me feel good just to have it here, right? Whenever you give something away, anxiety is understandable for Most. So verse 8 is for you.
[00:23:24] God is able to make all grace abound to you.
[00:23:31] So a couple weeks ago we said grace has different meanings in different contexts. And in Second Corinthians 8, 9, here's what Grace is. Grace is generous financial provision from God.
[00:23:46] In other words, God is able to make all provision abound to you.
[00:23:54] Now, to Paul's credit, he does not commit God to meeting all of your financial desires. Amen.
[00:24:04] Some of you are like, clearly, I've been walking with the Lord and I've got a lot more financial desires. Now, if you would like this text to say, God wants to make all your dreams come true, there are other churches that I can point you to that will tell you that, but they're liars. And you will figure that out over time.
[00:24:23] Verse 8, Paul tells us what we should expect from God. God is able to make all grace abound to you. So that here's the reason. Having all sufficiency, having all your needs met in all things, not just money at all times. Do you see Paul's like, absolute confidence of the providing hand of God.
[00:24:43] But why, why, why is God always giving me?
[00:24:47] You may abound in every good work. God will give you what you need in every moment to do whatever good work he has for you to do.
[00:25:01] God will give you what you need in every moment to do whatever good work God has for you to do. Right here, I need to address a massive misunderstanding about this text.
[00:25:15] Pastor Michael if this is true, then why have most of us experienced moments or seasons where we didn't have enough to pay our own bills? God didn't give me what I needed in that moment. Three reasons why you don't have what you need in a circumstance. Number one, unexpected catastrophe.
[00:25:39] Often this is something unexpected. A job loss, an injury to the major breadwinner in the home. And for most people, there will be probably one time in your life where something so big and unexpected happens that it kind of cripples you financially for a season. And it's gut wrenching. It's terribly difficult.
[00:26:02] And these are the moments where God has over provided someone else to help meet your needs in the moment. Some people, we're just too prideful to accept help. But that's not the way the body of Christ works. When there's a catastrophe in one person's life, there are other people that God has over blessed to meet this specific need in that moment. And let me just tell you, I have watched multiple tragedies in people's lives. And for those who humbled themselves and said, I need help, I never could have foreseen something like this. I have watched this church family mobilize and move heaven and earth to bless their own, to make sure they have what they need in those moments. They may not buy you a house, that's not the point. But the church will make sure you have everything you need to do every good work that God has called you to do. So I stand by this principle. God will give you everything you need.
[00:27:00] Reason number two, you don't have what you need. Orbit to another's sin.
[00:27:06] It is more and more common that another person's sin, it could be our parents, our spouse, our children, it can cost us greatly. See, here's a thought. This probably crosses my mind about once a month.
[00:27:20] All over our country are actually innocent people in jail because someone didn't fess up to the crime they committed and they let somebody else take the rap for it. That's a crazy thought. Like right now. And this person is living in the orbit of another person's sin and they didn't even do the thing. And I still in those moments stand by this. God will give that person everything they need in that moment to do everything God, every good work God has asked them to do.
[00:27:53] Here's the third reason why sometimes people don't have what we need.
[00:27:58] Misallocation of God's provision. Because we've structured our finances according to the world's rhythm, right? What we have done is essentially this. We have the car bill. It's bigger than we expected. The irony is that God already gave you the money for that bill. You just spent it on yourself earlier. And then we look at God and say, you didn't give me what I needed. And if God could speak to you audibly, he'd say yes, because you reallocated, misallocated those funds to your standard of living. Because you've built your life on the world system. I gave you everything you needed. If you Would have built your life on my system.
[00:28:37] Verse 9, Paul answers this hesitation, what if God doesn't meet my future needs? He says, as it's written, He, God has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. In other words, God has so, so many resources at his disposal. Like, God is so unbelievably wealthy, and God distributes freely. Now, apparently there's like a divine algorithm by which God allocates money. I've never been able to tap into that algorithm or quite understand why some this, why some that, why some are poor. But what I appreciate about this is he's like, listen, I have everything. God, I give freely. Like, I'm just literally giving people stuff all the time. And what's interesting is he says, even the poor, they have everything they need. They get food. Now, it doesn't say that he takes the poor and he makes them rich, but it doesn't matter what lot in life you have that there's so much that everybody has everything they need to do the good works that God calls them to do. In verse 10, he says, he who supplies seed, this is the ministry and money, okay? To the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed. Remember, the seed is money and ministry for sowing and increase your standard of living. Wait a minute, that's not what it says, is it?
[00:30:03] This is interesting because there's a direct connection here between when you sow a seed, money or ministry to build the kingdom of Jesus, the net result is your own righteousness or sanctification or spiritual growth.
[00:30:22] And then here's what he says. You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way. Okay? So here's how this works.
[00:30:35] If every one of us, we have money and ministry opportunities in front of us, and when we invest them into the kingdom of Jesus, it changes us. And here's kind of the rule.
[00:30:47] God has this, like, perk of omniscience. Like, he sees all the things you're gonna do. Like, he knows all your commitments that you're not gonna follow through on, right? And some of you are like, God, I loved being generous. I love giving money and investing into your kingdom with ministry. And if you give me more, I'll just reinvest all of it. But here's the deal. A lot of people think that, but you're not actually gonna do it. When you get more, what are you gonna do first? Oh, I can get a bigger house. Oh, I can get a bigger this. Oh, I can get a better that. Right. That's how most people function. Which is why God is not in the business of giving some people more ministry and more money to build the kingdom. Cause they're just gonna misallocate the funds.
[00:31:24] But there are these special people that they are literally like, listen, Lord, whatever you give me above and beyond my standard of living, I'm going to figure out. I'm going to take care of my family, I'm going to take care of that. I'm going to invest into the future. But I'm just going to. I'm like pretty pumped. I'm going to just invest this into your kingdom and I'm not going to spend it on myself. I'm going to set it aside. And I am telling you that the people who have a habit and pattern of proving faithful, of investing generously in the kingdom of God have this funny thing. They will all tell you the same thing. It's like more just keeps coming, but I just keep giving it away. It's like a little secret sauce that those who actually have a life commitment. So God has all these resources. And I'm not telling you that if you give generously, God's gonna make you rich. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is you will find more and more margin to be generous with money and with ministry if you practice generosity on a regular basis.
[00:32:15] Now, with that being said, I want to share with you two big. So what's. As we close out this generosity series, number one, take your next step in generosity. I'm going to share with you. Three generosity next steps. Number one, get help and repent of the world's approach to money.
[00:32:37] Most people don't feel like they have the space for generosity because they have no margin. Because they've built their entire life on a worldly framework.
[00:32:49] It doesn't just change in a moment. Like you're going to need practical help. Let me share with you just some practical advice. This is a framework you all know about, but I think it's worth talking about. Most, most homes have one of three combinations. Two savers, two spenders. One saver and one spender.
[00:33:08] For the. Don't kick your spouse either. Just trust me on this.
[00:33:12] For the home with two savers, you are rare. Rarely do people marry somebody like them. Okay, you budget wonderfully. Like, I preach on this. And you're like, I'm building my finances according to God's rhythm. That's easy. I've been doing that for years. Praise God, right? Keep it up and inspire other people to do that. And the fight for your life will be to trust God for your future and not your money.
[00:33:40] Sometimes when you get two savers, God's like, I'm going to challenge you and he's going to challenge you to give a big dumb gift to someone somewhere. And you're going to be challenged in that moment because you need to be reminded that your security is in your God and not your bank account.
[00:33:55] For the home with two spenders, you are also rare. And I want you to hear me get help. Now, almost every instinct you have is wrong.
[00:34:12] And you, if you're married to another spender, usually one gets convicted and the other gets annoyed. And so if you're the convicted one, first pray about it and then ask God to move both of your hearts so that you can get the external help you need. Because if you could have done this on your own, trust me, you would have done this on your own. So you need some help and accountability. And you will never know true generosity, true generosity until you repent of your current financial system. Lastly, for the majority of homes, you have one saver and one spender. You know who you are. And I have found in these homes, the spender is often defensive and unwilling to have an unreasonable conversation with the saver. Oh, you better watch out, savers. I got a word for you. The savers are often judgy, stingy and unbending.
[00:35:08] So the savers have the superiority complex. We're better than you. But here's what I found. Number one, when you get help and the two of you can work together, it is often the spender who is the heartbeat of generosity in a home. And it is the saver who helps to build and ensure the financial system is according to God's values. And what I have found is that a saver and a spender, when they both submit to God's will for generosity in their home, they can have an awesome generous relationship. And you can find that that spender that you look down upon might have the heart of Jesus in a really beautiful way that you needed.
[00:35:45] Here's who this does not apply to.
[00:35:48] The hyper controlling, the addict, the manipulator, or the nefarious. All right, I said that. Good. The challenge of repenting in this area is not new. I want to share with you just a few quotes from some pastors from hundreds of years ago. The 16th century, Martin Luther said this.
[00:36:05] Every man needs two conversions. The first his heart, the second his wallet.
[00:36:12] In the 18th century, John Wesley pastor said this. The last part of A man to be converted and is his wallet.
[00:36:21] In the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon said this with some the last part of their nature that ever gets sanctified is their pockets.
[00:36:32] All right, here's the next step in generosity.
[00:36:35] Meet a money or ministry need somewhere, anywhere with someone. And here's some advice Jesus would tell you, if at all possible, keep it a secret, pray about it, and then do whatever generous thing for someone else you sense the Holy Spirit is leading you to do. And with that, here's the commandment I want you to make. Lord, whatever you ask me to do, I'm gonna find another person to do the exact same thing. And this is what we're doing. We're building the muscle of generosity. Because like all virtues, it needs to be built over time. The people that you see that have a lifestyle of generosity, it's started as they built the muscle individually, private, private act of generosity, one thing at a time over years. And what you learn is that the more you do this, you realize, wow, it's like if I commit to generosity, I always have enough to be generous.
[00:37:30] And the third generosity next up is for those of you, you're ready, you know what, your, your finances are built according to God's word. For the most part. You, you really do love one off generosity. Commit to a lifestyle of generosity. So the generous family, generous household has already pre made a bunch of decisions. The generous family has already determined what they want to give to their church, what they need for their future, and what they need to provide excellently for their home. The generous family, they have a track record of stewarding their money and their commitments.
[00:38:08] And they have come back time and time again to Jesus and said, I want to do more good for your kingdom. You can trust me. And they've proven trustworthy. The generous person or family will experience this promise in 2nd Corinthians 9, 10 and 11.
[00:38:25] He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply your sower seed, money and ministry, opportunity for sowing and increase in the process the harvest of your personal righteousness. It will change you in the process. In verse 11, you will be those of you who are generous and want to build the kingdom of God. You'll be enriched in every way to be generous in every way.
[00:38:54] All right, so number two, never forget the big why of generosity. I want you to look at this theme in chapter nine. It starts with verse 11. Paul says, you will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce. What's that Word Thanksgiving to God.
[00:39:17] What is the net result of generosity? Thanksgiving to God. Look again at verse 12. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but it is also overflowing in many what's the word? Thanksgivings to God. Again, the net result of generosity is other people experiencing thanksgiving and gratitude to God. In verse 13. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission. And now we see the net result is that when people receive your generosity, they look upward and they go, thank you Jesus. I want to bring you glory and honor for intervening in my life circumstance and blessing me in this moment. The big why is this? Your generosity produces spiritual fruit, not just in you, but in those who receive it. Your generosity rekindles people's confidence in God as their provider. Your generosity rekindles people's confidence that Jesus sees them and loves them and cares for them. And when they receive generosity, let me tell you what the recipients of generosity do. They tell other people about that generosity. They may not know who did it, but they're like, listen, I want you to know how God intervened in my life. And when a Christian who has the Holy Spirit hears stories of generosity, do you know what they want to do? They want to go, be generous too. And because when you're generous, you get a front row seat to the Lord moving and to the Lord bearing fruit in people's lives. I want to leave with you the major takeaway from these section, from these verses. Village Church. Be generous in a way and to a degree that leaves people thanking and glorifying God. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, I pray for our church family, Lord, Some of us, we have built our finances backwards and we don't even know that next step to take. Would you give them the courage and clarity to take that next step?
[00:41:29] Some couples need to have some really hard conversations. But Lord, these could be so good. Would you protect the saver and the spender from their worst selves? May you bring spiritual fruit from these conversations for all of us. God, that money that we have so willingly spent on ourselves, would you help us to pick up our heads and open our eyes and to see different ways that we can bless and take Jesus at his word. It is better to give than it is to receive God. For those of us who are just in a pickle and we don't know what to do and we need help, Lord, may you humble us and remind us that maybe even our current circumstance is to give someone else the ability to meet our needs, to humble us, to show us your provision, and to teach them generosity as well. Most of all, Lord, would you cause each of us to look to you, the most generous God anybody could even fathom? I mean, literally everything we have, every breath, everything, is a generous, kind gift from you to us. So, Lord, as we just soak in the reality of your generosity, may you fill us with thanksgiving, with gratitude, a heart that wants to bring you glory, and then the opportunity just to give small reflections of your generosity and our acts of generosity. Lord, we pray this and we do this all in Jesus name and for your glory. Amen. Amen.
