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Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point
Christian Church. All rights reserved.
Transcript August 24 & 25, 2013
Christianish: I give, but I’m not really generous Aaron Brockett
| 2 Corinthians 8:1-9
Good morning. Good to see you
all. Hey, just a couple
of things before we jump in.
On Sunday night, September 15th,we’re
going to be doing a night
of prayer with our friends from
College Park Church. So, I want
to ask you to make every
effort, if you can, to attend
that. It’s going to be from
6:00 to 7:30 that evening at
College Park. Childcare will be
available for kids 2 months to
4 years old, but you need
to register online for it.
There is not a link on
our website for you to do
that as of yet. So you
need to go to College Park’s
website and you can register
for childcare if you need it.
Kids older than that, we just
encourage you to bring them
with you into the time of
prayer. Mark and I are
going to be leading out in
it. Our worship teams are going
to be coming together to lead
us in a time of worship.
We’re going to be praying over
a representative from the
Indianapolis Police department – just
praying for our city, praying
for their safety. It’s going to
be a great time of prayer
and worship that night. If this
makes you a little uncomfortable,
if you’ve never gone to
anything like this before – I
just want to urge you to
give it a try. It could
be a really unifying thing for
the body of Christ. I hope
to see you there. Then,
secondly, I just want to take
a quick minute to brag on
our student ministries. Last Sunday
night they had their student
ministry kickoff of Catalyst and
there were over 300 middle and
high school students here. It
was a great, great night –
a good kickoff. I want
to officially welcome our new
student pastor, Petie Kinder and
his wife Brittany and their
son. They joined our team this
summer – you can give them
a whoo – they got one
whoo. If you get a chance
to meet them, just love on
them and welcome them to our
church family. They’re doing a
great, great job. If you
have a Bible, please get to
2 Corinthians, chapter 8. That’s
where we are this morning.
We’ve been walking our way
through the second letter that
Paul wrote to the church that
had gathered in Corinth. This
is a church that he knew
and loved very much. It was
a church that he started, it
was a church that he pastored,
and it was a church that
he had wept with. They were
believers, they were Christians but
the issue and what prompted
Paul’s first letter to them is
that they weren’t acting like
Christians. They were
gossiping about one another, dividing
with one another, they were
sleeping with one another, they
were suing one another, and
they were divorcing one another.
Paul writes this first letter
to them and says, “Enough is
enough here.” He didn’t expect
them to be perfect after coming
to Christ but that was not
the issue. The issue was that
they were embracing their immaturity,
they were compromising their sin
and they were okay with it.
Paul writes this letter to them
the first go around to address
all of this. What he’s doing
is, he’s urging them toward
full maturity in Christ knowing
that they have not yet arrived
at perfection.
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Christianish: I give, but I’m not
really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
Intellectual materials are the property
of Traders Point Christian
Church. All rights reserved.
2
And see, that’s the tension in
the Christian life. It’s that
you and I come to this
place where we would see Jesus
as Savior and Lord. We give
our lives to Him but we’re
still going to struggle with
our sin and our selfishness.
But see, that’s not the thing
that Paul has a problem with.
The problem is that instead of
turning from it – the
Corinthians were embracing it.
Instead of repenting of it they
were compromising with it and
saying, “Well, it’s okay.” Paul
is urging us away from that
into something called discipleship.
Now, as we conclude this
series, I want to make
something just really clear because
it’s easy for us to mess
up when it comes to this
issue. When we start to talk
about discipleship, many times there
will be people who will hear
that and it either leads them
to despair or pride. So
despair, “Okay, Aaron. I see
that you are raising the bar
with us. Paul, I see as
you’re writing to the Corinthians,
you’re raising the bar – I
don’t think I can jump over
that. I don’t think that I
can attain that.” Others of us
hear this and are thinking,
“Man, it’s about time. My
neighbor has needed to hear
this series for a long time.”
So, we can either default on
despair or pride as believers.
I think it’s really important
for us to clarify that you
are welcome here, it doesn’t
matter who you are, or where
you’ve been, or what you’ve
struggled with, what’s happened to
you and what you’ve done to
others in the past. But,
wherever you are in the
spectrum of not yet coming to
Christ, coming to Christ but
you’re still immature, coming to
Christ and you are mature –
wherever you are on that
spectrum that you would be
encouraged to take one more
step toward full maturity, whatever
that looks like for you.
This is a place where messy
people feel welcome and should
feel welcome – but we’re going
to urge you toward maturity.
And by saying that we want
you to be mature – we’re
not saying that you’re not
welcome. We’re saying, “You’re
welcome here now move toward
full maturity in Christ.” We
want there to be depth and
in what we do as a church
– we just don’t want that
depth to turn into legalism. Is
everybody with me in all of
that? I want to clarify
all of this. On week number
one, we basically said that the
goal for us is not belief
– that’s just the starting
line. But, many times, what we
have a tendency to do is
think, “Well, I vaguely believe
in God and just as long
as I live a good, moral
life in comparison to the
person who I live next door
to or work next to, then
– clearly God grades on a
curve – and so at the end
of it I’ll be good.” That
is not the Gospel message.
The Gospel message is not
that you’ve just done a few
bad things to make God mad
– it’s that our relationship
with Him is severed completely.
And God is not just a
bigger version of us. God is
completely Other. He is infinite,
He is Creator, He is all
powerful, and He is all
knowing. There has been a
severing of our connection to
Him due to our sin and we
cannot mend it back together.
No amount of good works or
good intentions will do it.
Jesus did it for us. So,
Jesus is God incarnate who came
to earth – not just to
teach a few interesting stories
and show us a life of
humility and sacrifice – but to
literally through His death, burial,
and resurrection, through that
atonement, mend the relationship that
was broken between us and God.
Belief is just like one
little baby step. And beyond
that comes the acceptance of
the fact that God is not
a bigger version of us but
that He is completely Other. We
repent of our sins, we turn
from them – we don’t embrace
them any longer. We receive
Jesus into our heart and say,
“Make me a new creation. Give
me a new set of perspectives.
Give me a new set of
ideals and a purpose for a
life that is beyond this one.
Then we begin to grow into
full maturity in Him. All of
this is pictured in the
obedient act of
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really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
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3
being lowered into a watery grave
and being resurrected as a new
creation in Christ. And this is
bookended by work of the Holy
Spirit. He prompts you to it
and He seals you for it,
Ephesians 2. But, many
of us get on this side of
the line of belief and we
kind of stop. And in Hebrews
12 and 2 Timothy 4 it
urges us to run the race
with endurance. And we said on
week number one that we are
not saved by the race that
we run, or the quality of
the run, but we are saved
to run the race. The fancy
theological word for this is
sanctification. It basically means –
grow, mature. You’re not going
to be perfect – that’s not
what Jesus is asking of you.
He’s asking of you, wherever
you are, to take the next
step toward full maturity in
Christ. So, we’re running this
race toward full maturity and
you and I are going to
get the wind knocked out of
us, we’re going to get injured.
You’re going to take one to
the jaw by circumstances in
this world, maybe even by a
group of believers who you are
running the race with. It’s
just a matter of time before
you’re going to fall down on
the track. And so, Paul
mixes in analogies in 2
Corinthians. He says that this
mortal body, this temporary life
that we are living is like
a jar of clay. And, a jar
of clay is very fragile. It’s
also beautiful – it’s being
shaped. We house the treasure
of the Gospel message in this
very fragile life that we live.
And right in the middle of
that he mixes metaphors again
and he compares our life to
camping. And he says that the
body that you are living in
is as temporary as a tent.
No wonder we are so
uncomfortable. And one day we’re
going to exchange this temporary
tent for the security of a
solid building. So, he essentially
says, “Don’t tap out while you
are camping. One day you’re
going to get to move into
a house with four walls and
a roof.” So, it’s going
to require others to pick you
up off of the track. And
it may even be that the
ones who pick you up off
of the track to get you
running were the very ones who
knocked you down. We
talked about this in chapter 5.
All of us need to grow
through the context of a local
church body. We made this
really clear distinction. We’re not
saying your salvation is dependent
upon your involvement in the
church. Our Catholic brothers and
sisters miss this. I’m not
trying to throw them under the
bus or take a jab at them
– I know a lot of good
Catholic brothers and sisters who
love Jesus. I’m just saying,
largely, what they err on is
the thought that their salvation
comes through the church. That
is not Biblical salvation.
You come to salvation in Jesus
Christ, through His death, burial,
and resurrection and the catalyst
for your discipleship is the
church. Not because the church
is perfect but precisely because
it’s not. Meaning that when we
come in here together that
you’re going to have to put
up with me and I’m going
to have to put with you.
You’re going to have to be
forgiving, and generous, and gracious
toward me and I’m going to
have to be forgiving, and
generous, and gracious toward you.
And as iron sharpens iron,
Proverbs 27:17, we will sharpen
one another. It such an
inspirational Proverb but it’s
painful to go through because
it’s shaping us together. And
there is no such thing as
a perfect church. We are being
perfected in Christ. So, we
need one another to mature and
to grow. And all of
this brings us to chapter 8.
And I want to look at the
connection between generosity and
discipleship. This is what I
want to contend. That it is
a revealing thing. It will
reveal your maturity or your
immaturity in Christ dependent upon
your perspective on giving and
generosity. So, whatever your
perspective on giving and generosity
is, it will reveal your
maturity or your immaturity in
Christ.
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Christianish: I give, but I’m not
really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
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4
Now, let me just go ahead
and say this. I have a
love/hate relationship when it comes
to preaching on money. I love
it – you hate it. I’m
just kidding. Actually, in all
seriousness, I have a love/hate
relationship and here’s the reason
why. I love it because the
Bible has a lot to say
about the subject. Jesus taught
on this subject more than any
other – roughly 800 references
in Scripture to it – there’s
a lot of good material to
work with, so I love it.
The down side or the thing
that I hate about preaching on
money is that we have a
tendency to break out in a
cold sweat. And you put a
death grip on your wallet
because you’re wondering what my
angle is. Even right now. I
said this a second ago and
some of you are shifting in
your seat, “Where is he going
with this and what’s his
angle?” So, let me say
that – many of you in
this room – I don’t know
very well and so I don’t
yet have the credibility to
speak this freely into this
area of your life. I understand
that. Others of you – we
do know each other. So, I
have earned the right to speak
freely into this area. And, the
rest of you are somewhere in
the middle. So wherever you are
in that spectrum, I just want
you to know and to understand
that when it comes to tough
subjects that we have to talk
about – we want the authority
or the weight of what is
being said to be based upon
the Scripture alone. So, if I
say something that really isn’t
found in Scripture, I’ll usually
preface it with, “This is just
my opinion.” Meaning, “This is
just my opinion.” I’m not going
to code that up – if I
say that this is my opinion
then you can say, “Okay. Let
me weigh it against Scripture
and I’ll come to a conclusion
on my own.” But, the
Bible speaks a great deal about
this subject and we can’t
ignore it if we’re going to
mature in Christ. One of my
responsibilities as your pastor is
to teach and to preach the
whole counsel of God. And a
lot of times, if we’re not
careful as preachers, the Bible
ends up looking a little bit
like Swiss cheese because we
just teach the parts that are
easy, or the parts that are
fun, or the parts that we
know that you’ll really like,
or the parts that will get
you to come back. That’s not
my responsibility. My responsibility
is to teach the whole counsel
of God, even the difficult
parts. And the difficult parts
are what usually prompts us
toward the next step of
maturity. One of my
personal goals and aspirations is
that I would serve this church
for a really, really long time
– for the bulk of my
life. One of my aspirations is
that I would write and preach
a sermon on every chapter of
every book of the Bible by
the time my days are done
with you. And, that is an
aggressive ambition. Meaning, I
better get moving if I’m going
to do that. That introduction
was quite long. And I’m already
sweating with Leviticus 15. Can
I just go ahead and tell
you that? And if you don’t
know what Leviticus 15 says,
don’t look it up right now
because you’ll be distracted and
you’ll lose your breakfast.
But, I’m just committed to
teaching and preaching the whole
counsel of God. So, I don’t
see how in the world we
can avoid this subject if it’s
talked about so much. And the
reason it’s talked about a lot
isn’t because God is short on
cash and it’s not because He
needs your money. God isn’t
after your wallet or your
purse. Money is His chief
competition. Money is a functional
savior. Money is where we get
our sense of security.
I’ve heard this explained to me
before, in a river or a
stream as water rushes over the
rocks in that stream it shapes
those rocks. In a very similar
way, throughout your lifetime, from
the day that you got your
first paper route to the day
that you retire, earning money
and sending it on its way
washes over your heart. Whether
you realize it or not, it
is shaping you in some
direction. And I think this is
one of the primary reasons why
Scripture speaks about it so
much. A lack of
generosity may be the very
thing that is blocking your
growth in Christ. And it’s
usually the last thing that we
detect. So, some of you in
this room say, “You know, I
don’t know why I’m stuck in
neutral,
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Christianish: I give, but I’m not
really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
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Church. All rights reserved.
5
I don’t know why I’m not
growing because I’m in three
Bible studies, and I just did
that group link thing, and I
signed up to go on a
mission trip, and I’m serving
others, and I’m trying to be
generous and gracious – but I
don’t understand why I’m not
growing in Christ.” I’ve
had a number of you even
email me throughout this series
and you say, “I get what
you are saying about Lordship.
Now, how do you do it?
Aaron, could you give us a
three step process by Monday.
Help us figure this out.”
So, maybe you’ve gone through
the whole check list. And maybe
the last thing – the thing
you never really thought to
check is: What is your attitude
toward generosity? This may be
the very last thing that still
has a grip on your heart.
Here’s the kicker when it comes
to generosity. You can be a
really stingy person and nobody’s
keeping you accountable for it.
It’s such a private thing. We
keep finances really close to
our chest – and we should.
We don’t advertise how much we
make a year. We don’t advertise
how much we give away because
that would make our relationships
pretty messy. Could you
imagine if there were two
little bubbles hovering over
everybody’s head one number for
how much they made annually and
the other for how much they
gave away annually? Our hearts
could not handle it, could
they? We’d be coming to church
and saying, “Oh, hey how are
you doing? Ohhh wow! Wow!
Somebody thinks pretty highly of
themselves.” And we would
judge them, we would envy them,
we would criticize them, compare
ourselves to them – our hearts
wouldn’t be able to handle this
sensitive information. Don’t
hear me say that we should
advertise this. I’m saying we
should not advertise this. But
I am also saying that because
we don’t advertise it, because
it isn’t culturally or socially
acceptable to do so – it’s
easy to hide. So, this
may be the last vice grip
on your heart that you have
not been willing to fully
surrender to the Lordship of
Christ. And, you can go for
decades as a Christ follower
and nobody will ever know it
because no one is keeping you
accountable. I’ve got
brothers in my life right now
who are asking me tough
questions. We meet and they
say, “Hey, man. How’s your
marriage? You dating Lindsay? You
spending time with the kids?
You keeping your priorities straight?
How’s your thought life? Are
you staying pure?” But, nobody
is asking me if I’m tithing.
Nobody is asking me if I’m
generous. Chances are that nobody
is asking that of you either.
So, if we are going
to remove that thing that is
blocking our spiritual artery, so
to speak, we have to allow
the conviction of the Holy
Spirit as the word of God
is taught to bring us to
that place because others are
likely not going to. That is
my aim. That is my desire
as we look at this passage
together. Let’s unpack it
starting in chapter 8, verse 1.
Paul is really going to call
out the lack of generosity in
the Corinthian church and he’s
going to do so, not in a
way that demoralizes them, not
in a way that shames them,
but it a way that edifies
them. In a way that should
encourage them as they move
forward. And as he does it,
I’m going to draw two or
three principles that will bring
conviction and clarity for you
and me today. Chapter 8,
verse one, “We want you to
know, brothers, about the grace
of God that has been given
among the churches of Macedonia,
for in a severe test of
affliction, their abundance of joy
and their extreme poverty have
overflowed in a wealth of
generosity on their part. For
they gave according to
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Christianish: I give, but I’m not
really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
Intellectual materials are the property
of Traders Point Christian
Church. All rights reserved.
6
their means, as I can testify,
and beyond their means,” meaning
they gave more than what they
made, “of their own accord,”
meaning he didn’t have to twist
their arms. Verse 4, “begging
us earnestly for the favor of
taking part in the relief of
the saints – and this, not
as we expected,” these next few
words are, I think, the most
important in this section of
Scripture, “but they gave themselves
first to the Lord and then
by the will of God to
us.” So what’s happening here
is that Paul is not just
concerned about one church, he
is concerned about multiple churches.
Paul was a church planter. He
would start a church, he would
stay there for a while, he
would pastor them, he would
raise up leaders, and then he
would move on and start another
one. And then after that he
would start another one. It was
a church multiplication movement.
They were all for one another.
And the church in
Jerusalem was struggling financially.
Maybe the economy had a down
turn, maybe they had sent out
a bunch of people to start
another church somewhere and so
the home church took a hit.
Whatever the reason, Paul said
they needed to collect an
offering among all of the
churches that the church in
Jerusalem helped to start so
that their ministry could be
kept alive and vibrant.
So he passes out the offering
plates in all of the churches
and when the offering plate
comes back from Macedonia Paul
is so moved by their
generosity. This is a church
that had a bunch of college
students, this is a church
where the factory had shut down
in the community so the economy
went down, this is a church
where people were struggling to
make ends meet. And the
offering they gave, Paul was
blown away. Now, he doesn’t
give us an amount. And that’s
the whole point. The point is
that they gave beyond what was
expected and what was even
asked of them. They gave beyond
their means because they had
given themselves first to the
Lord. He was so humbled by
their offering because they
sacrificed. Then he gets
the offering plate back from
the Corinthian church and he’s
equally shocked for different
reasons. He sees that there are
a couple of one dollar bills,
there was a little bit of
loose change, there was a
bubble gum wrapper, and some
McDonalds coupons. And he was
like, “What in the world?”
Now, you’ve got to understand
that, in Corinth, the people
made a decent living, they were
relatively affluent especially in
comparison to the Macedonian church
and Paul’s scratching his head
saying, “Hey, guys. Why is
there such a discrepancy here?”
The thing that we need
to understand is that Paul is
not saying that the Macedonians
were more spiritual than the
Corinthians. So hear that. He’s
not saying, “Hey, God loves
them better because they were
more generous.” That’s not what
he is saying. He is saying
that they are more mature. They
didn’t have as much, but they
are a little bit further down
the line toward full maturity
in Christ. So he is urging
the Corinthian church toward
maturity. He’s not saying, “Hey,
man, ante up.” That’s not what
he is saying. He’s saying
because of this mile marker in
their life, it reveals their
maturity in Christ. He’s not
pitting the maturity of these
two churches against one another.
In other words, Paul is not
using this as a fund raising
gimmick. Those of you
who grew up in churches –
do you remember the red
thermometers on the white poster
board? Some of you are saying,
“I didn’t grow up in church.
I don’t remember that.” Consider
yourself blessed. For those of
us who grew up in church
– it was a good idea that
had its time and it’s time
moved on. So you had the
white poster board, the red
thermometer and Paul’s not holding
this up saying, “Okay, this
thermometer represents Macedonia and
this thermometer represents Corinth –
let’s
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Christianish: I give, but I’m not
really generous
August 24 & 25, 2013
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of Traders Point Christian
Church. All rights reserved.
7
see who can raise the temperature
all the way to the top.”
That’s not what he’s doing
here. He’s urging them toward
maturity in Christ and he’s
showing them that their generosity
reveals their level of maturity
or immaturity. So here’s the
first handle of application for
us. Generosity has little to do
with how much we make. A
spirit of generosity has little
to do with how much we
make. So you can be rich
and generous and you can be
poor and generous. You can be
rich and stingy and you can
be poor and stingy. It’s not
about the amount that we give
but the spirit by which we
give it. But if your spirit
is in the right place then
you’re going to be generous.
This is right about the
time where the little attorney
who resides in each one of
us is going to start to
get vocal and is going to
start to try to explain things
away and is going to try
to make some compromises. The
little attorney in all of us
will hear that and say, “Yep.
You see right there. It’s not
what we give it’s the spirit
by which we give it. So,
I am graciously giving these
McDonalds coupons.” We try to
look at this as through a
loop hole and we are missing
the point. The Macedonian
church gave themselves to the
Lord first. Look at that in
verse 5. Verse 5 is key.
They gave themselves to the
Lord first and the result was
a wealth of generosity on their
part. This is what we might
call Gospel centered generosity. You
give, not because you’re manipulated.
You give, not because you’re
trying to get God’s attention.
You give, not so that God
will bless you back. You give
as a response to the Gospel
message in your lives. And this
is the revealer of maturity.
That Jesus gave it all
therefore we’re going to have a
generous spirit. I said
this last week or two weeks
ago – true Lordship of Christ
is not a burden, but it’s
a joy. That the veil gets
lifted from our eyes and we
begin to see Jesus for who
He really is. We understand the
Gospel message and so Lordship
is not a burden, it’s a
joy. And I would say in
the same vein, true Gospel
centered generosity is not a
burden, it’s not something that
we begrudgingly enter into, but
it is a joy. And
if the Macedonian churches were
waiting until they got wealthy
to be generous, they’d be
waiting probably a really long
time. The point is that they
seized the moment then and
there. I think that
most of us in the room
love the idea of being
generous. I think that most of
us in this room, if we
were to just go around and
ask each person we’d say, “Yes,
man. I absolutely want to be
generous, because that’s just an
admirable thing to do.” And
whenever you’ve been generous in
your life – didn’t you feel
really good about it? Didn’t
you walk away and go, “Man,
I didn’t really sacrifice anything.
I’m the one who got blessed
from that.” Have you ever
been generous accidently? And then
you reveled in the glory? As
if you meant to do it? I
was having lunch with a friend
a couple of weeks ago and
we were in line and the
cashier thought that we were
together and that I was going
to pay for his lunch. And
so she charged me for his
lunch as well. And before I
could catch it he saw it
and said, “Hey, man. Thanks so
much for picking up my lunch.”
And I was like, “What?”
How do you back out of
that? You’d be just a real
tool, “Hey, could you separate
that back out?” So what do
you do? You’re like, “Oh, man,
absolutely. I love you bro. I
do what I can.” Then you
walk away and you’re like, “Oh,
man!” It was accidental generosity.
And, you felt blessed! I
think that most of us
understand that generosity is kind
of wired into our DNA and
yet we still fight and resist
against it. And most of the
time our reasoning is – it’s
just not the right time. We’ve
got these external circumstances,
this emergency cropped up, I
just got downsized, I just lost
my job, and the kids
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are ready to go to college,
or whatever. We say, “After I
get through this then I’ll be
generous.” What ends up happening
is that we spend our whole
lives with good intentions to
be generous but may never be
generous. And so the water
flows and we never get shaped.
When you’re in college
you’re like, “I know I should
be generous. But I don’t have
any money because I’m not
working right now. So, let me
wait until I graduate and then,
after I get a job, I’ll
be generous.” But, what happens
after you graduate from college?
You still have no money and
you’ve got debt, you don’t have
a job. You’ve got to buy
clothes so that you can get
the interview, and then you’ve
got to buy a car to get
to your job. So you’re like,
“After I get established in my
job, pay these things off then
I’ll be generous. But
what happens between you getting
the job and getting established
is that you meet someone. And
that someone has a tendency to
be very expensive – and
completely worth every penny (Hey,
she is not here right now.
It’s just my own heart for
you.) So you’re saving for the
ring, you’re saving for the
wedding. And you’re like, “Okay,
once we get married, once we
get two incomes, once we get
settled, then we’ll be generous.”
Then what happens after that?
You need to buy a house,
you have a mortgage payment,
you want to have kids. And
you read this article that each
child from 0 – 18 years
old costs a jillion dollars to
raise. So you have to save
for the kids, pay for the
mortgage, and once the kids
start to get a little bit
older then you can be generous.
But once they start to get
bigger you have to upgrade your
house, you have to have more
square footage. And the kids
are in private school and
you’ve got two car payments –
so after you get the kids
out of the house then you’ll
be generous. But then, when the
kids get older you’ve got to
pay for college. So you pay
for the kid’s college and
you’ll get them out of the
house and be empty nesters then
you’ll be generous. But
then, once you’re empty nesters
and the kids are their own
then all of a sudden you
become a grandparent and you
completely lose your minds. You
have grandkids to spoil, you
have retirement around the corner,
and you wonder when you turned
to be this age, and you’ve
got to save for this. And
after all of that, once you
get the grandkids on their
feet, once you get the nest
egg built where you feel safe
to retire then you will be
generous if you’re still alive.
So, what we do is
we spend our whole lifetime
living well intentioned when our
hearts needs generosity now, when
the Great Commission needs our
generosity now, when our hearts
needs to be shaped now. This
is the whole point that Paul
is making. Look at what
he says in verses 6 – 8.
He says, “Accordingly, we urged
Titus that as he had started,
so he should complete among you
this act of grace.” What I
want you to notice is that
this entire section is about
money and giving and never once
does Paul use the word money.
He uses the word grace. He
uses the words willingness and
earnestness, abundance – why? Because
he doesn’t want them to think
that he’s some shady TV
preacher trying to manipulate them
into padding his salary. So
he’s saying, “This is not about
me. This is not about you
earning good favor in God’s
sight. This is not me trying
to underwrite my private jet
that I fly around on to
all of the different churches.
This is Gospel centered generosity.
That’s why he chooses the words
that he chooses. Verse
7, “But as you excel in
everything – in faith, in
speech, in knowledge, in all
earnestness, and in our love
for you – see that you
excel in this act of grace
also. I say this not as a
command, but to prove by the
earnestness of others that your
love also is genuine.”
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So here’s the application. Generosity
should never be forced, it
should be developed. It should
never be forced. You should
never feel guilted, manipulated, or
coerced into generosity. But this
is something in your life and
mine that should be developed.
For some of us, the gift
of generosity could be compared
to any other spiritual gift.
Some of you in this room
have the gift of singing and
you should seek to excel in
that gift. Some of you have
the gift of teaching. You
should excel in that gift. Some
of you have the gift of
administration; excel in it. Some
of you have the gift of
hospitality; excel in it. Whatever
your gift, you don’t just stay
flat you grow in it. So,
Paul’s making this distinction here,
“Some of you have the gift
of generosity and some of you
do not.” The tendency is that
often the two of you meet
and get married. That’s what
happens. And it makes balancing
the check book a whole lot
of fun because one of you
has the gift of giving and
you say, “Let’s just give,
give, give,” and the other is
saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa –
hold on, hold on.” And you’re
holding back. Some of us have
this gift and some of us
don’t – the cop out for
those of us who don’t have
this gift is, “Well, I don’t
have the gift of giving and
so I shouldn’t be generous.”
Paul is essentially saying,
“Those of you who have the
gift of generosity – it’s like
you’re lifting 50 pound dumbbells.
Go ahead and work your way
up in weight. So, if you’re
tithing 10 percent, why don’t
you try 11 percent this next
year.” It’s not legalistically but
it’s a benchmark to work your
way up in weight. Some of
you are rocking with the eight
pound dumbbells, over there and
[pumping one arm at a time]
you say, “Well, I don’t really
have the gift.” Well, work your
way up in weight. That’s what
he is talking about. Some of
us have this gift, some of
us don’t. One of the
things that I see happening in
the church is that people with
external gifts often get thanked.
People with the gift of
generosity don’t. So, if you’re
good at singing, if you’re good
with up front gifts, people
appreciate you, and they thank
you, and they express their
gratitude. If you have the gift
of generosity, nobody ever knows
that – not that anybody ever
should. You don’t do that to
get thanks. But if you have
the gift of generosity – thank
you. Thank you for your gift
– you don’t get thanked for
it enough. Wherever you
are on that spectrum – and
it’s nobody’s role to judge
where you are – you hear
me? Nobody’s role to say where
you are – you say, “Let
me take one more step toward
maturity. Let me work myself up
in weight.” You know,
statistically, that 25% of Christians
in America give zero dollars a
year – 25%. The median annual
giving for Christians is $200.00
a year. Most Christians only
give 3% of their income to
their churches. Listen to this
5% of Christians give about 60%
of all contributions. So 5% are
giving 60%. Let’s pray that the
5% doesn’t get sick (in all
three services no one knew what
to do with that. Should we
laugh?) People oftentimes want
to know, “How much should we
give anyway?” There’s this endless
debate about tithing. And people
hate that word and people love
that word. And people want to
pin this down. Those are really
important issues to discuss. Largely,
they miss the point. You ask
the wrong questions you get
sent in the wrong direction. So
to argue over something like
tithing is to miss the whole
principle behind generosity. You with
me on that? As clearly
as I can spell this out –
I would affirm percentage giving,
but not legalistically. Tithing
should be the training wheels
of generosity, not the goal.
It’s kind of like belief.
Tithing should be the starting
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place, not the ending place.
Tithing is the training wheels
to train us to have generous
spirits. Because, left to our
own devices we wouldn’t do it.
Christians love to argue
about, “Well, under the Old
Testament they tithed but under
the New Testament it doesn’t
talk about it, we’re under
grace.” True. In the Old
Testament they tithed over 20%
of their income. In the New
Testament we’re under grace. So,
if we’re under grace – meaning
that Jesus has sacrificially given
all – does that mean we
should give less than what the
poor Israelites gave or more?
That argument implodes upon itself.
The issue of tithing,
oftentimes, misses the principle
because in the Gospel of Luke,
on three different occasions, Jesus
affirmed three different percentages.
So, in the Gospel of Luke
He talks to a rich young
ruler and tells the rich young
ruler to give away 100% of
his income. Wow! And Jesus told
him that, not as a prescriptive
for the rest of us but as
a descriptive of that young
man’s heart. It was his idol.
But then later in Luke, Jesus
is speaking with the Pharisees
and He affirms a tithe of
10%. And then, again in the
Book of Luke He meets a
guy named Zacchaeus, a wee
little man up in a tree,
who was a tax collector.
Zacchaeus gave away 50% of what
he had and Jesus affirmed it.
So if we’re talking
percentages – which is it? In
the Gospel of Luke Jesus said
100%, 10%, 50%. What is it?
He’s not fixated upon a
percent. He’s talking about
generosity. And a spirit of
generosity basically says that a
tithe is just the training
wheels for what God wants to
develop in us. So, a
single mom with three kids
working two full time jobs,
hospital bills up to her
eyeballs, if she legalistically gave
10% it might ruin her
financially. Now, it might be
an opportunity to provide for
her – I don’t know. But,
if she treated it legalistically,
it could ruin her. But a
business executive making six figures
and pulling down benefits – he
wouldn’t even feel 10% but be
puffed up with pride because
he’s been tithing for two
decades. Are you seeing where
I’m going with this? It’s
working your way up in weight.
I’ll never forget, in 1997,
when I did an internship with
a church I stayed with a
couple in the church and, as
we were talking, they shared
with me – they weren’t being
boastful – they just shared
with me, “We took on this
challenge when we were in our
30s that we would start adding
a percent every year and just
see how God would bless and
provide.” And they were in
their early 60s at the time.
And I said, “Well, what are
you up to now?” And they
said, “48% of our income.” I
was so humbled and moved by
that. It’s this idea that it
is not a legalistic thing –
what God wants to do is
He wants to develop the spirit
of generosity that is within
us. I don’t want you
to miss the point here. Jesus
is not asking you to empty
your checking account, He’s not
asking you to empty your
savings account, He’s not trying
to guilt you into anything. And
when it comes to emotional
subjects, like money, we have a
tendency to run to irrational
extremes. So, let me point out
two irrational, un-‐Biblical extremes
as they relate to money.
Here’s the first one. We
should give as an investment
strategy. So, we’ll quote Malachi
chapter 3, verse 10. You guys
know what that says? Bring the
whole tithe into the store
house. If you’re faithful with
your tithe see if I won’t
blow up your barns with
blessing – I don’t even have
a barn, but that’s awesome. And
in Luke chapter 6, verse 38
it says give and it will
be given to you. How
this can be taught and most
of the time – 99% of the
time this is how it’s taught
by TV preachers – is that
if you invest a certain amount,
God will bless you with another
amount. And while the essence
of
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that may be true, that is
not our motivation. That is not
a Biblical motivation for generosity.
The title for this is called
prosperity theology. Prosperity theology
says tithing is an investment
plan. So take 10% of your
earnings, give it to God and
watch Him blow up your 90%.
That is not Biblical. Here’s
the second extreme. We should
just give everything away. And
this has actually experienced a
resurgence lately in response to
the 80s and 90s where we
saw all these pastors flying
around on their jets, and we
saw Christian theme parks, and
we saw way too much make-‐up.
And so what we did, pendulum
swing – just study church
history. So pendulum swing – we
saw all of this opulence over
here so we pulled the pendulum
over here and said, “You should
feel guilty for having anything.
You need to give everything
away.” This is known as poverty
theology. And while it is more
true than the other, while it
is more Biblically accurate than
the other, it takes it further
than what the New Testament
teaches or what the Gospel
allows. What we want to
teach is Biblical generosity.
Meaning, God has blessed you
with much, so that you bless
much. Open hands. God gives it;
we pass it on to others.
There are four problems with
poverty theology. Real quickly, let
me rattle them off. This has
no practical end. If you
shouldn’t have luxuries, who judges
what is a luxury and what
is a necessity? I’ll read blogs
about why you should give away
all of your luxuries to feed
more people around the world
and I’m thinking, “Isn’t the
computer your writing that blog
on a luxury? Why don’t you
sell the computer and buy a
typewriter and mail it all out
to everybody? Or, why use a
typewriter – just write a
letter. So, it has no practical
end. Some say if you
have a car with 100,000 miles
on it you should sell it
and buy a car with 200,000
take the difference and give it
to the poor. But, then you’re
probably going to be in the
shop just as often, or more,
and you’re spending money on
repairs. And then, why even
have the car that has 200,000
miles? Why don’t you sell it
and buy a bike? Then, that
bike is pretty nice. Why don’t
you sell the bike and just
walk? Those are some pretty
expensive shoes. Get rid of
your shoes and just go
barefoot. See where I’m going
with this? This has no
practical end to it and it
will either drive you to
despair or pride. So, if
you’re the person who is trying
to give away everything you
look at others and say, “Man,
you should give that away.” And
so, you get prideful. Or, you
think, “Man, I just can’t do
this.” and so it leads you
to despair. Instead of taking
comfort in our possessions, it
is making possessions preeminent
rather than Jesus. Here’s
the second thing. It assumes
that God needs your money. And
God does not need your money.
He’s not up in heaven wringing
His fingers hoping that the
offering comes in good today so
that we can pay all of
the bills. God is not doing
that. God is inviting us to
respond to the generosity that
He has given to us. And
we get blessed when we allow
His generosity to us flow
through us to others. Number
three. This type of giving is
dressed up to look more
spiritual than it is. I will
say, once again, that this will
lead you to despair or pride.
And then number four.
Poverty theology is out of sync
with the whole of New Testament
and Old Testament teaching. Meaning,
that when you look at money
and possessions throughout the whole
Bible it will talk about how
you need to work hard to
provide for your family, that
you need to save reasonably,
that you need to leave an
inheritance, and that you need
to delight in the gifts that
God gives you. Yes, God wants
you to enjoy what money
provides – that’s not a sin.
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In fact, I want to spoil my
kids. Some of you are thinking,
“Well, you’re an okay pastor
but you’re a bad dad.” I
want to spoil my kids – I
just don’t want them to act
spoiled. There’s a difference. So,
I want to generously love on
them and give to them. And,
I want to take my son to
McDonalds behind his mommy’s back
– I want to do those
things. But I don’t want him
to grow up thinking that he’s
entitled. Last night, my son
was at a friend’s house and
I took my wife – this is
one of those illustrations that
just popped into my head. So,
I don’t know if this is
going to go anywhere. After
church I took my wife and
my three girls to McAlister’s
and I got this plain sandwich.
My daughter got a giant, cheesy
spud. And I didn’t think I
would like it but when it
came out I was like, “Oooh.”
She drenched it in butter and
salt and pepper and I was
like, “Hey, can Daddy have
10%?” She was like, “No. You
have a sandwich.” And I was
like, “Who bought that?” That
was an awesome illustration.
Every command of God is a
blessing of God in disguise.
Every command of God is a
blessing of God in disguise.
So, you look at all of
the Ten Commandments and God is
commanding us this – it’s not
because He’s trying to limit us
but because He wants to bless
us. The same is true when
it comes to generosity. You
don’t worship your wealth – you
worship with your wealth. So,
let me give you three better
questions to ask. Number
one: What does your spending
reveal about your affections? What
does your spending reveal about
what you delight in? It’s not
a bad thing to buy a new
set of golf clubs, or get
some new clothes, or to go
on a nice vacation – but
look at what you’re spending
annually. It’s a good thing to
do at tax time. Just look
back and say, “Okay. If I
didn’t know anything about myself
other than what this paper
says, what would this say about
what I care about?” That’s a
convicting question to consider. So,
what does your spending reveal
about your affections? Number
two: What does your saving
reveal about your sense of
security? What does your saving
reveal about your sense of
security? So, the good rule of
thumb here is live modestly,
save reasonably, and give generously.
There is a difference between
hoarding and saving reasonably.
Number three: What does your
giving reveal about whose Kingdom
you are building? In chapter 9
– and I’d encourage you to
go read this later this
afternoon – Paul describes the
entirety of our whole life as
a seed. Life is as temporary
as a seed, isn’t it? And
while we are here we are
being planted to reproduce something.
So, that’s everything.
What I love about the subject
of generosity is that is that
money is just one slice of
it. It’s your gifts, it’s your
time, it’s your energies, it’s
your passions, it’s your resources
– your life is a seed and
at the end of your life,
what have you produced? Whose
Kingdom are you building?
Look at verse 9 with me
as we finish this up. This
is the key verse in this
section of Scripture. Paul says,
“For you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though He was rich, yet for
your sake He became poor, so
that you by His poverty might
become rich.” Guys, that
is the Gospel message. That
Jesus was rich and He became
poor so that through His
generosity you might become rich.
Can we all just agree that
Jesus experienced a significant
downsizing when He went from
heaven to earth? He went from
the penthouse to the basement.
Jesus went from riches to
poverty. He went from glory to
humility. He went from being
served to serving others. And
this is the essence of the
Gospel message. Jesus gives and
we receive. So, this is why
Paul would say in verse
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5 that the Macedonians had given
themselves first to the Lord –
meaning that they were serious
about the Lordship of Christ
and the result of that was
generosity, not because they made
a lot of money but because
they had been given much by
Jesus, Himself. Generosity is a
response to what Jesus has done
for us and what He desires
to accomplish through us as His
church. As we enter into
this time of communion, this is
not a time to collect your
things and look around and get
ready to go, this is a
time to really come before the
Lord and say, “Okay. In the
last 45 minutes Aaron said some
things that I didn’t agree
with. Lord, he said some things
that I’m not quite sure about
but I’m processing them. So,
Spirit of God, would You just
do a discerning work in me
now.” If I am wrong then
you can dismiss whatever I said
that was wrong and wasn’t in
alignment with God’s word. If I
am right and you just don’t
like it, would you ask God
to do some spiritual surgery on
you right now? Here’s
the victory for us today.
Wherever you are in this, you
can take one more step to
maturity in Jesus Christ. And
listen to me. This is not
about what you are putting into
the offering basket. It’s about
your perspective and response to
the Gospel message. So,
as we take communion together
we just want to invite the
Spirit of God into the room
right now to work within us.
And John and Shawn are going
to come out and just lead
us in a response. We do
worship in the end, not because
we don’t know how to close
the service. We do worship in
the end as a response to
what we’ve heard. So this is
not your chance to unplug, this
is your chance to respond.
Let me pray. Father, we
come to You right now. Thank
You for this time and for
this teaching. God, if there is
anybody here that heard something
different than what I really
desired for them to hear, I
pray that Your Spirit would
discern that in their thinking
right now. God, if there’s
somebody here who has had an
exposure to some bad teaching
in this area, I pray that
You would bring them to
healing. God, if there’s anybody
here, maybe like me, who is
wrestling with this, it’s convicting,
it’s clarifying, I pray that
You would bring them one step
closer to maturity in You. That
their sole motivation to be
generous in every area of life
would be out of a response
to what You have done for
us. We look for You to
meet us in this place. We
ask this in Jesus’ name. And
the church says, Amen.