Speaker 1: 0:00

Can you hear me now? Can you hear me? I say can you hear me? All right, all right. Well, I am glad that you guys are here with us today.

Speaker 1: 0:11

Okay, today, hey, ushers, ushers, can you guys come up front? Because today we start a series and we're talking about money, and so that means you know we got to pass the offering plate about two or three times. So, ushers, go ahead, let's just get it out of the way. Since we're talking about money, let's go ahead and pass these offering plates down and let's start making it happen here. They go, go ahead and grab yourself a payday. You get it, isn't that good? The more I become a dad, the cheesier I become, and I love it. Okay, but we are starting a series.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Today we are going to talk about money, we're going to talk about finances for the next few weeks, and we have a lot of exciting things that we're going to be doing with this series weeks. And we have a lot of exciting things that we're going to be doing with this series even an opportunity to connect with a sponsor that we regularly use called Compassion International, and we're so excited for that. And we're going to be supporting a church planter in the next two weeks, who is planting down in the Petersburg area of Richmond, and so we're just so happy for all this stuff. So, with that, we want to talk about generosity and we're going to talk about that and I'm so excited for it. Okay, and here you go. And another reason why there's really two main reasons why we want to talk about finances for the next few weeks. One is that everyone has money problems, right, everyone has. What did Biggie say? More money, more problems, and so that's true, and then so we need to know what the Bible says about it. And then, secondly, last year we did our first ever series on finances and guys, it was one of the best received message series that we ever did. I mean, couples were moved, families I'm not even exaggerating families literally restored because they were able to talk about finances. We had our we do our prayer time up front. It was filled up almost every week during that series. So there is a need and we want to keep talking about it. Okay, and there's another truth we all know when it comes to finances, often with money we fear that we don't have enough or we want more than we need. Often with money, that's kind of where we fall.

Speaker 1: 2:23

And so we are starting this series called Practice in Generosity, and as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers. What does it mean to be a people of generosity? What does it mean to be a people of generosity? Because here's the thing we all want to be happy. We all want to be happy, and every person you know is chasing after their vision of a happy life. As Americans, what we live in, a nation that was founded on three ideals Life, liberty and what? The pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of happiness. And yet we are one of the most unhappiest nations in the world. Yet depression rates are high, especially among our young people and our seniors. There is depression rates higher than ever before. And so what do we do about this? What do we do about this?

Speaker 1: 3:09

It turns out that many of the things that we think will make us happy do not make us happy, and the good life we're all searching for is often found in places that we least expect, which is why Jesus regularly made bold claims that turn our vision of the good life up on its head. Jesus preached this thing that we call the upside-down kingdom, where it was counter-cultural to what people believed. And so Jesus said things like this. He says the last will be first and the first will be last. Jesus said those who exalt themselves will be happy because they have high self-esteem. No, no, no, those who exalt themselves will be humbled. And those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus says bless those who curse you. And one of the most counterintuitive of all Jesus' teaching. And that goes against everything we hear, especially on culture, especially on culture, especially in media. It's just teaching our money and generosity. Listen to this. In Acts 20, it says this it is more blessed to give than receive. And that Greek word there for blessed is where we get the word happy or fortunate or well off. In other translations of this verse it goes like this it says there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. And in the message paraphrase I love this you're far happier giving than getting. And I know what you're thinking right now, really, really, jacob, because I could use a new car right now, because there's some things I could, I would love to get.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I remember when I was 16 years old and I got my first real job, I was flipping burgers at this place in Virginia Beach called Ocean Breeze Fun Park, and it was hot. It was hot and I remember I was flipping burgers all day. I was making the beautiful $6.15 an hour Come on somebody. And I remember when I got my first check, I opened it, I looked at it and I said I'm rich, I can't believe it. I got so much money. And I remember being so pumped. And then I remember about this thing called tithing like giving 10% of what you make, and I said I can't do all that now, not all this money. But here's the funny part. Here's the funny part, even though at that point in my life that was something I didn't really think I wanted to do or could do. I loved to buy people lunch. I love to give people's gifts with my own money that I earn. There was something in me that loved generosity. There was something in me that when I was generous, I felt like the right version of me, I felt better. And so here you go, let's continue. Let's look at this, though For some of you, you may just not agree with Jesus on this one.

Speaker 1: 5:53

You may not think it is better to give than receive. You may think it's easy that Jesus teaching our money. Well, they're right for a kind of religious sense, but not very good, certainly not the path that leads to true happiness. And here's the thing, though. You couldn't be more wrong. You couldn't be more wrong. All of the research from social science has shown us that you ready for this. Jesus was exactly right. Generous people check this out are happier, healthier, have lower levels of depression and anxiety, are more interested in personal growth, have better relationships, have a higher life expectancy. And this last one gets me they laugh more. They literally laugh more, and this is so true across every demographic, no matter if someone's socioeconomic status, age, gender, personality, type.

Speaker 1: 6:47

One study even called the link between generosity and happiness a universal feature of human psychology. Check this out. Sociologists Hilary Davidson and Christian Smith, in their book the Paradox of Generosity, say this. They say people rightly say that money cannot buy happiness, but money and happiness are still related in a curious way. Happiness can be the result of not spending more money on oneself, but rather of giving money away to others. The data examined here shows this to be not simply a nice idea, but a social, scientific fact. Wow.

Speaker 1: 7:24

Now, if you just step back and look at the research, it's pretty obvious. The whole more money equals more happiness. It doesn't hold up, and we have seen enough celebrities to know that that's true. We've seen enough downfalls to see that money often is the thing that caused their downfall. So rather, it's this Jesus formula of more generosity equals more happiness that this is the pathway to it.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Spiritual director Richard Foster writes this. He says this Reason boasts abounds, that the good life is found in accumulation, that more is better. Indeed, we often accept this notion without question, with the results that the lust of affluence in contemporary society has become psychotic. It has completely lost touch with reality. It comes as no surprise that Jesus says so much about the danger of money. But check this out and the possibility of generosity, and the possibility of it and what it does to us. And so, as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers, a key task of your walk with Jesus is discovering a joy, the joy that comes with living a generous life.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Now, here's the thing. There's all sorts of expressions of generosity. There's generosity of your money, there's generosity of your time, generosity of relationships, of gifting, of power and influence. But the main thing we're going to hit on during the next four weeks is going to be about money, but that's the main thing we're going to hit, but during this series, we're going to focus on that, but we're not going to limit it to that. Because here's the thing While generosity is far more than giving money or resources, it is not less than that. It's not less than that. Listen to Jesus teach in the Matthew 6. He says this here you go, there, your heart will also be. Your heart will also be.

Speaker 1: 9:42

This summer, all three of my kids are growing like weeds. Like all of them. They're all getting so tall, every single one of them. They're getting so tall, and they need so many new clothes all the time. Well, besides my youngest one, because he just gets the middle child's clothes, but the other two, man, they need new clothes. So here you go. At the beginning of the summer, our kids started I-9 basketball. It was their first time kind of doing competitive sports like that.

Speaker 1: 10:12

And when I came into it, man, I noticed that all these kids had nice shoes. All I think these kids had Jordans, kds, lebrons they're looking sweet and my kids? They had their air targets and their shoes are looking a little rough. So I thought to myself dang, maybe I need to buy them a pair of Jordans or something so they can fit in a little bit. And then I started looking it up, looking up how much it costs to buy a seven-year-old some Jordans, and I was like they're going to hang with those air targets for a little bit longer. It was too expensive, but here's the thing, so I did it. I obviously had to buy them new shoes over the time, just because they're getting bigger, and thank God I didn't buy them the expensive shoes At the moment. I bought them new shoes. Guess what happened? They got scuffed, they got dirty, they got messed up within the first day, the first day I have it. And my daughter? She loves to climb trees, and so she got all these scuffs on her new white shoes.

Speaker 1: 11:06

But here's the truth about it, though. Here's the truth. Here's the truth Because this is what happens to stuff Stuff gets ruined, shoes get ruined, toys break, cars get scratched, homes age, everything on earth eventually wears out. And that's exactly what Jesus is trying to tell us here. It's not that shoes or stuff are bad. It's not bad, it's not. It's just that they don't last. It's that they don't last.

Speaker 1: 11:37

Jesus is reminding us, if we live our lives chasing temporary treasure, we'll end up with a temporary heart, if that's our main goal if we invest. But if we invest in what's eternal and people and the kingdom and generosity, we're stirring up treasures. That last Jesus is naming this deep impulse in the human heart to store up treasure. The fascinating thing is this he does not rebuke that impulse. He doesn't rebuke it. He doesn't say it's bad. He doesn't say, oh, you shouldn't want to store up things, you shouldn't want to save, you shouldn't want to. No, no, he doesn't. He doesn't rebuke it. For Jesus, the problem isn't what. The problem isn't that we want to store up treasure. It's that we store it up.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Hit on, though when he's talking about in heaven, he's not talking about just a place that we're gonna go someday no, no, no. He's not just talking about, oh, just live humble now and one day you're gonna have a big mansion in heaven. No, that's the prosperity gospel. That confuses things. Okay, I can talk more about that another time. But what he's talking about? When you look at this word heaven, it's not talking about a place that we go somewhere. It's talking about how heaven invades earth now, how the kingdom of God is trying to invade now. But if we are investing in things that the earth promotes as good. We miss out on bringing heaven to earth now when we rather say, hey, man, yeah, you know, starbucks, that $7 latte's worth it, baby, but Thank you. So this is the first century Hebrew way of saying in God and what he's doing on earth, for where your treasure is there, your heart will also be.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Notice that, for Jesus, money is ultimately about our hearts. It's about our hearts. One of his central insights is that the heart follows our money, and we often think it's the opposite. We think our money follows our heart. Meanwhile, we spend on what we love and what we care about. But Jesus is saying that it works both ways. We also come to love, worry about or assess over what we spend our money on. When we store up treasures on earth, our hearts are wracked by fear, because we know we can lose it all in one moment, or by greed, because we feel like we never have enough.

Speaker 1: 14:05

But Jesus has an alternative way. Check this out Matthew 6. He says the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light within? Now this sounds kind of cryptic to our modern ears but it's not. And healthy eye was a figure of speech in Jesus' day and in your Bible study in the NIV.

Speaker 1: 14:33

If you look at that word healthy, the Greek word for healthy there implies generous. It implies generous. And another word for the word unhealthy, the Greek word for unhealthy, here implies stingy. Don't look at the person next to you. It's a way of saying there are two different ways of looking at the world and they have come to be called an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset. Okay, okay, let me break this down a little bit. Okay, can I break it down? Is that cool? Okay, I'm gonna do it anyways, because I have the mic.

Speaker 1: 15:07

Okay, if you have an abundance mindset, you look out at the world and you see a world full of abundance. You see God as your father and your provider and yourself as his child and all of life as a gift. This is our father's world and there's more than enough for everyone. You look around and you say the same things, like Jesus says. Jesus says look at the birds, they don't worry or stress. Look at the fields God clothes them even though nobody sees them. You look at the world. You look at things through that lens and, as a result, you live with a gratitude towards God and generously towards your neighbor. You receive and you give, both with joy. A first century Hebrew would say you have a healthy eye. You have a healthy eye, a healthy view of the world. Now, a scarcity mindset. Scarcity mindset you have that. You look at the world and you see a world of lack. There is no father provider. You're on your own. The world is a dangerous place. Human civilization is a fierce battle over scarce resources.

Speaker 1: 16:18

Now, when I was a youth pastor many years ago now, I had the honor of taking youth down to Mazatlan, mexico, for mission strip. Now I've done this trip, like I did War Ass, mexico and Mazatlan, mexico for mission strip. Now I've done this trip like I did War Ass, mexico and Mazatlan, like six or seven times a lot, and it was always a very like just life-changing experience for the youth that would come Because we would go down to these communities. We'd go down to these areas, these areas where they lived in you know, deep poverty and the thing that the youth would always come out with every single time, even though I take different youth, they would always come out and they would say these kids have more joy than me. Yeah, I have everything back home and they were always moved by the joy that the kids had down in Mazelon because of their community, because of Jesus. Okay, so here you go.

Speaker 1: 17:11

When I got engaged to my beautiful wife, erin man, I'm a lucky guy, she's way out of my league, man Okay, here you go. When I got engaged to her, she went down on one of these missions trips with the team and we got to this place called the Dump and it's literally a city dump down in Mazatlan, mexico, where people live. People live in the dump, kids, you know, whole families, people work in the dump and they try to find things in the trash to earn money. It's, you know, it's really tough and we take a whole team down there to do it. We have a food truck that we take down, we bring. We have doctors that come with us that provide free health care and stuff like that, and we and then we play soccer with the kids and all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 17:52

And when my wife, when she got off the bus and we're in the middle of this dump, I mean it's intense Even to get there, it's intense. She got off the bus and I see her, she's moved, she's starting to cry, she's looking around and I'm thinking to myself, man, I found the right one. Like, oh, look at that compassionate heart of hers and of hers. I was like, dang man, she is just beautiful inside and out. Man, the Holy Spirit, you're working on her. I walk up to her and I say, aaron, I know this is crazy, right, you see all this and it's moving, you right? And she says to me she says, jacob, I ain't worried about them. What if we get stuck here? I was like she was concerned at the bus didn't start again. It's a valid concern. She let me share that story.

Speaker 1: 18:46

She had a change of heart in the process, okay, but isn't that the truth, though? Like you can see all this stuff around you, all this tragedy all around you, and you're more just focused about yourself. What about me and my needs? And what about this? What if I'm going to do this? And what about me and most of us? Here you go. Even with that.

Speaker 1: 19:07

Most of us, we don't even have a plan to leave an inheritance for our children and our children's children, because we live all about right now. We're not even thinking about legacy and your vision is focused on what you have, but you're scared on what you may lose, and that's a scarcity. Your heart is consumed by fear and greed and if this is you, jesus would say you have an unhealthy eye. You have an unhealthy eye, a distorted view of the world. So, abundance and scarcity two very different ways of seeing life in general and money in particular. Two people can have the same exact income, cost of living, economic responsibility, but see the world radically different, especially if you grew up in poverty or in an unsafe, unstable home. So the question I want to ask you today is how do you see the world? How do you see the world If you had? This is a good question. I want you guys to think about this If you had absolute assurance that God would provide enough for you, how would that change your relationship to money and generosity?

Speaker 1: 20:10

I want to say that one more time. I want to say that one more time If you had absolute assurance that God would provide enough for you, like if you really believed that God was looking out for you, that God was for you, how would that change your relationship to money and to generosity? You see, if we come to trust Jesus' vision of abundance and God as Father provider. Then his teachings on money start to make sense. Father provider says don't worry. Father provider says seek the kingdom first, give and it will be given back to you. As a result, you're free to be generous with what you have.

Speaker 1: 20:50

But if you don't believe that, you'll read Jesus' teachings and they will sound unhinged. They will even sound dangerous. Generosity sounds not only foolish but a bad decision and we're enslaved by fear and greed. Which is why Jesus goes on to say this no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one or love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. And then he says this and he just drops this little line you cannot serve both God and money.

Speaker 1: 21:21

He could have said anything there. He could have said you can't serve both God and your low self-esteem Can't serve God and people pleasing Can't serve God. But he says God and money and money. He throws that in there and some translation says you cannot serve both God and mamma, which is an Arabic word which the gospels are written in Greek, but Jesus most likely spoke Arabic, so Matthew left this particular word on translated and scholars believe the word mamma was the name of the ancient Assyrian God of wealth, and it was Jesus' way of saying that money is like a rival god and we want so badly to believe that money is neutral, not good or bad, but it's just about the heart and it's just about the heart. But for Jesus, wealth is powerful and its sway over our hearts is often a demonically animated force at work in our soul and our society. Guys, we've seen it. We may not use those words, but we see it Entire sectors of our economy are run by the worship of money. The God of mamma is behind so much evil and injustice, war, racism, devastation and more.

Speaker 1: 22:34

And Matthew 6 says this you cannot serve both God and mamma. You it's not, it's not, you should not. Jesus isn't saying hey, that's not a good idea, you may need to rethink that. No, he's saying you cannot. He's saying it's not that it's bad, it's impossible. Is what Jesus is saying? Mamma will take over your hearts unless you resist its gravitational pull. But how? How do you resist it? According to Jesus, it's through a healthy eye, through acts of generosity. It's through acts of generosity.

Speaker 1: 23:08

Now, jesus is a brilliant teacher here and I want you to see what he does on three levels here, because people learn the way people learn. We learn in our heads, then our hearts and then our hands. It comes to our head first, then our hearts and our hands, and it's kind of like our vision. We want people to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and then do the stuff that Jesus did. You know, because that's life transformation. When I can be with him and then not only am I going to be with him and soak him all up for myself, I'm going to become like him. And once I become like him, I can start doing the things that he did in the Bible and I can start believing this crazy verse in the Bible that Jesus says greater things that you can do than I can do. That's a tangent, but Jesus teaches this. He says head, heart, hands, and this is what he's trying to get us to do. Jesus is teaching on these three levels and he wants followers of him. He wants them to. He's gonna ask them this how do you see God? How do you see God in our life, in God's world? How do you see God and how do you see your life in God's world About the kind of universe we find ourselves in, where the good life is to be found and, ultimately, who God himself is.

Speaker 1: 24:16

A biblical theology on generosity does not start with tithing or even with Jesus' command to be generous to the poor. Generosity starts with who you believe God is. Let me say that one more time. Generosity doesn't start with tithing. That's a big thing for a pastor to say Generosity doesn't start with tithing. That's a big thing for a pastor to say. It doesn't start with the verse be generous, it starts with who you believe that God is. That's why you can tithe and every paycheck you tithe still have this resistance in your heart like God. Better do something with that, because you don't actually believe that he's father provider. Come on, I'm getting real today. That's why. So here you go. My kids, my kids, my kids never walked up to me and said dad, you got rent this month, you got groceries, you got the medical bills. They never worry about it because they have father and mother who provide for them. Jesus said we don't have to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear, because God is our father. Not only is God father, but he is father, son and spirit. He is a family of self-given, other-centered, joyful, sacrificial, generous love.

Speaker 1: 25:30

Generosity is grounded in the triune nature of God. Generosity is throughout Scripture, from page one. We see this in Genesis 1. I give you every seed-bearing plant for food. He made plants that produce seed that produce more food, because he's a life-giving God. Come on, it continues.

Speaker 1: 25:50

Generosity is in the heart of the gospel itself. The Father gave the Son, for God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son. The Son gave His life, for you know the grace that can also be translated as generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, became poor, so that, through His poverty, you might become rich. And then the Father and the Son what Gave us? The Holy Spirit. And if then, though, you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And even the cross? The cross displays His ultimate gift, because it's about forgiveness, because it's about forgiveness, and he gives to us on the cross. This is not just something that he does, it's who he is, it's who he is. Is this how you see the gospel? Is this how you see God himself as the world's most generous being in all reality and how you see your life in God's world.

Speaker 1: 26:55

Second, jesus teaching is teaching his followers about the conditions of their heart. Billy Graham once said if a person gets his attitude towards money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life. And that's right in line with Jesus' teaching from Matthew 6. Get your relationship with money right and it will set your heart free. And as everyday people are learning how to become Jesus followers, it should change our relationship with money because it should change our hearts. That's why generosity is way more than just tithing. It's way more than just acts of radical generosity when we give large portions of our resources away. It's about buying your friend coffee. It's about welcoming people to your dinner table. It's about being quick to forgive rather than holding on to bitterness, because generosity isn't about our behavior, it's about our hearts. It's about allowing the Lord to work in our hearts. And thirdly, jesus teaching his followers about the practice of generosity.

Speaker 1: 27:54

All the research on generosity says the same thing that for generosity to make you happier and healthier, it can't be a one-time event. It can't even be a random act, but it has to be a practice. It has to be a practice, in the same way that we practice gratitude, that you know, if you practice gratitude, it'll make you a more thankful content person, practicing generosity'll make you a more thankful content person. Practicing generosity will make you a more generous and free person. You can't flip the switch and remove all the fear and greed from our hearts, but we can sponsor a child, which we're going to talk more about that in the next coming weeks. I can buy someone lunch this week. I can give a portion of my income away every month, with a special attention to the church, to the gospel and to the poor. And as I practice generosity and make space for God to move in my heart, he can change my whole life from the inside out.

Speaker 1: 28:46

Generosity is a practice by which our hearts move from scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality of Jesus. Our hearts move from fear of lack to trust that God is our Father provider, from worry over our future to peace about whatever may come, from the endless desire for more to the enjoyment of what I have right now, from grasping to gratitude and from misery to joy. And the practice of generosity can do all of this and more in our hearts. To end, I want you to think about the most generous person you know. It might be you, which that's awesome. I want you to think about the most generous person you know. Think about it. Take a second. You think about that person and I guarantee when you think about them, they probably have a smile on their face, don't they?

Speaker 1: 29:41

I used to work for this guy who loved to give people stuff. But he did it and he kept a note of it and it came out as like, oh, he's being so generous, but really it was his way to control, to control people. That's not generosity. Generosity is when you freely give. You just freely give. Why? Because God told me to Freely give. Freely I receive from the Lord. Freely I give to the world. Here's what I know, friends. I never I have yet to meet an unhappy generous person, and I never met a former giver. I'm sure they exist, probably, but all the people I know who have discovered the joy of generosity never turn back. Instead, they become increasingly more radical in the way of giving of Jesus I would. And here you go.

Speaker 1: 30:45

I'm so excited for this series that we're doing because I'm excited for what God wants to do in your heart, that God wants to set you free from what the culture says oh, you need this, you need that, you need these things To know. I can actually live a life of simplicity. I can live a life being present in the moment. I can live a life saying I don't have to worry about what I'm gonna do here, but I'm gonna be here where God has planted me. I'm gonna care about the things that God cares about.

Speaker 1: 31:13

So I got two ideas for us this week. Okay, I got two ideas for us this week. Okay, I got a goal for us this week. I want you to do something radically generous, whether that's paying for coffee for someone you're in line. Buying someone lunch, hey. Doing something like going to Compassion International and sponsoring a kid with your family we're going to do something about that as a church in the next couple weeks. But there's something. There's something, and then I have a reach goal for you. Do it more than once. Just do it more than once this week.

Speaker 1: 31:46

Be generous more than once this week and I guarantee, at the end of the day, you're not going to go home saying going to go home saying, dang man, I need that $20 back. No, no, no. You're going to go saying, god, can I give more, can I love more? Can I love my neighbors more? God, jesus, holy Spirit, we thank you that you are generous, that you are generous, god, that your love pours out generously on us, that, though we fail and fall many times, it does not stop your faithfulness times. It does not stop your faithfulness. And so, lord, we thank you that you care about the conditions of our hearts, that, jesus, you will have the awkward conversations with us because you care.

Speaker 1: 32:50

And so, lord, I pray for marriages that are really struggling right now because of care. And so, lord, I pray for marriages that are really struggling right now because of finances. I mean, it is the topic, it is the hot topic in your household. Lord, I pray for freedom there. Lord I pray for freedom, for unity between spouses, and God we just pray practical, lord, we pray budgets. Lord, we pray better understanding of money.

Speaker 1: 33:28

God, I pray for legacy, in Jesus' name, that we set up a legacy for our children and our children's children. I just feel the Holy Spirit saying, yes, that's about finances, but I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying that's also about your personal integrity, that the best way to leave a legacy is to live in an integrous life that will bless the generation and the generation to come. So, holy Spirit, let us live with integrity. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, god. We thank you, lord, we thank you for your goodness, we thank you for your love and again, we thank you that you are generous God giver of life. We love you in this place today, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.