A Generous Life

I wanna start by telling you something. I have been married 36 years, May 13th of this year, it'll be 37 years. That's a miracle in and of itself, but I thought I would just go back and just share with you, maybe like an old man about just how hard it was. It was hard, and I'm speaking financially. I got married when I was 21. My wife was 19. I got married in college and for, you know, at least four or five years, our grocery budget was $25 a week. Now, I, you know, I mean, for, for five years, I mean, I, I don't know how anybody gets fat on $25 a week, but I was able to somehow accomplish that. Now, you may be thinking, oh, that was back, you know, in, I'll say 1996, but that would be the equivalent today of about 55, 50 $6. Be tough to do, you know, groceries on that amount, but that's because you can't buy much. And I remember going to Sam's wholesale and getting three pound bag of these thick, you know, round tortilla chips and a gala in size, jug of paste, ante sauce. And I mean, we made meals off of that. It was terrible. I cannot stand paste PEI sauce to this day. I will not buy it. I will not eat it. It just brings up too many bad memories. So I was going over this, uh, with our team up here on, on this past Wednesday, and you know what I got in the mail Past pecan sauce. I, I said something a few weeks ago about sesame oil, and I got a couple bottles of sesame oil. Please don't send me any past pecan sauce, Mary. I'm gonna recover it because it's just too horrific in, in my mind. And now you made me wonder, why am I telling you that? It's because I, I believe this with all my heart and I've lived it. Um, generosity. And that's what we're talking about for this series. It is something that is attainable. It doesn't matter how much money you make, but it's also something that is liberating. It will, it will bring you to a place of freedom. And I wanna understand that together. Also know this, this series has nothing to do with, okay, the church needs your money. We're raising money for X, y, Z. Alright? It's not about that. This is about your personal growth, your development. It's becoming like, you know, more of who God wants us to be. And I understand, you know, the perspectives you come from, and I, I struggle at times, you know, with generosity, even though I made a commitment to that since I was 21. I was, we're gonna be all in, you know, as much as we could. I wanted to be faithful and obedient and giving. But there are times where, you know, I'm like, okay, I felt led, I committed to, to give something, and then I kind of want to talk myself out of it, you know, for whatever reason. Because, you know, it's a little tough. I know some of you, you know, you believe in God's provision. Um, that's something that is important to you, but you just, you know, you struggle to trust him with money. I get it. It's also, you know, one of the things that, that last, you know, last come, uh, we, we, we trust him with our past to forgive our sins. We trust him with the present in the future, but a lot of times it's hard to trust him with our money because money means so much. It's, it's what we buy, it's how we live. So I get it. And then, you know, you are one of those maybe that are generous intention, but you just have trouble executing, you know, that consistently have a good friend that is, um, just done very well in life financially. And one of the things that he shares, it's a big part of his testimony, is that he would, you know, think that he was generous and he didn't do it in a sort of systematic, regular way. But when he would come to the end of the year and do his taxes, he realized he was only giving, you know, about two or 3% away. And it's not like he, he needed, you know, to hoard anything. But I mean, it's just a reality kind of, of where we are. And, you know, some of you have, have too, you have experienced the blessings of God, but you've not connected it to maybe individual responsibility. I wanna start with the passage in two Corinthians chapter eight. This is in the New Testament. This is one of the most amazing encouraging passages to me. And what it focuses on is it sort of, it, it, it, you know, takes out this, this idea, this myth that, you know, if I just can make X dollars, then I'll be generous, then I'll help people, then I'll, you know, do what I need to do. Well, this is a church. Um, it's referencing these Macedonian churches that were struggling. They were in the midst of poverty. Lemme let the word speak for themselves beginning in verse one, two Corinthians eight, and now brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity for I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. Again, that's stated because this was not, you know, guilted into it. They weren't manipulated. But look at verse four. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. And they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves, first of all, to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. It's so amazing to me because here is this, this, this church that's struggling. They're, they're in poverty themselves, and yet they are clamoring, they're begging, they're urgently pleading to be able to give money to help suffering Christians in the Jerusalem church. I look at that and I think, God, that's the way I, i, I wanna be, I wanna have that kind of faith. I wanna kinda, you know, have that, that ability to trust you and be a part of what you're doing with absolute confidence, knowing that you're going to provide for me. You know, God wants us to follow his example. Recognize first of all, that love always gives, love always gives. The Bible says that God is love, and God has demonstrated his love for us because he gave his son hook. In John chapter three, verse 16, I, I love this verse. This is really a synopsis of the gospel. The good news, it is for God's soul of the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So God looked at humanity knowing that we have a situation, a problem that we, we can't solve ourselves. And that is because we are all sinners. We've sinned in some way, many times, many ways that disconnects, separates us from a holy God who is just, who is holy. But in his mercy and out of his love, he sent Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh. He was a hundred percent man, a hundred percent God. And he was exposed to the same temptations that we were. But God gave him, put him in this situation to be tempted. He never did. He was the willing and able sacrifice. God in his mercy allowed Jesus to go in our place, to die on the cross in that cruel, horrible way, so that our sins could be forgiven. That's how much you loved us. How many of us would be willing to give our own child for the sake of humanity to have a relationship with God? Yet God did this, and God wants us to obey him. We're to obey what he says in his word. We're to learn and so forth, but we're to follow his example. If you are a follower of Jesus, you're saying basically, my faith, my complete trust, my priority is Jesus Christ, because I'm convinced that he is the way, the truth and the life, and I'm gonna follow him. I'm gonna be true to that, to the best of my ability. But if God gives, he's giving. I know you want to be, you wanna be generous, you want to be able to give, you wanna help those in need that are around you. But what we're talking about is how to transition and become more consistent. To achieve that, that generous life. You've gotta choose the right mindset. And I think mindset, I'm convinced is, is so important. In fact, um, you'll hear me say it more. I've talked about gratitude, the power of gratitude, and how, you know, doing a list each day of just one, two things that you're really, really grateful for that day. Man, it's, it's, it's so, um, changed my mind, my outlook. I, I've been able to see the hand of God work in ways and how he has in the past, and it's just put me more in tune with him so that I can experience and see what he's doing and engage and be a part of it. Well, when it comes to the idea of money, um, a lot of us have a scarcity mindset, or we'll call it, uh, the bag mindset. I, I wanna encourage you to refuse the bag mindset. The bag mindset is the idea that you, you know, if you value something, you carry it close to you in a little bag, but the bag ends up having holes in it. Here, lemme show you where we find this. This is in the Old Testament English standard version of Haggai chapter one, verse six. It says, you have so much and harvested a little, you eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm and he who earns wages does. So to put them into a bag with holes, you see the Im imagery, we're so concerned about, you know, what we have, what's ours? We hold it tightly close to our, our, our chest. Yet there's a hole in it. It's like no matter how much you make, you know, it's hard to manage this. You don't, you don't sometimes know where it goes. Listen, you can be poor and in poverty and be generous or stingy. You can be wealthy and either be generous or stingy. It's not about, it's not about how much you have, it's about your mindset, your heart toward it. Let me show you this, um, this bag mindset cycle. Alright? We know from scripture that God provides, he provides everything. He is the author of life. He sustains us. He gives us what we need. All all good things that come from him. But, you know, he provides, we earn a living. And of course, we spend, we spend it for legitimate things. We spend it on things we not only need, but we want. And then, you know, we lack and we need more and more. Bills come due. We fear. See how this cycle goes? And it just leaves you in a place that you, you don't wanna be, doesn't leave you in a place of peace and contentment. In contrast to that, um, I want you to step into the buying, uh, the, the barn mindset. The barn mindset, uh, comes from Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse eight, I want you to think of, of a large barn. And this is, this is God's barn. The Father who gives us, it says this, the Lord will send a blessing on your barns and everything, and on everything you put your hands to the Lord, your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. Alright? So there that is conditional. By the way, lemme just tell you that the context of that in verse in verse one is if you obey, if you obey what I said, you heed my word and you actually do it, then look, I'm going to bless you. I'm gonna fill your barns. Not only am I going to provide for you, but I'm gonna give you more. You'll be able to steward more or manage more, and God will bless you. That does not always mean that you're gonna get more money. It doesn't mean that you're always gonna be healthy and, and, and prosperous. We live in a, a sinful, fallen world. But the promise is, and the book of Malachi tells us as well that the blessings of God will be there. In contrast, let's look at the, uh, the barn mindset cycle starts the same God provides, right? But we give, and the difference is, the back mindset is we put ourselves in first place. And so it's about, okay, I spend, but in this, it's God's first. We know that what he wants us to do is give, uh, the first 10th of what he gives us, we give that back to him and worship. It's called obedient giving. Sometimes it's called the tithe. And what does God do with it? Well, he multiplies it. God multiplies it. He takes what we give, and he multiplies it by seeing, you know, missionaries being sent, churches being planted, people being reached, baptized, crowing in their faith. God multiplies that. And that results where we trust, we know we've, we've done it long enough. It's, it's, it's a habit. It's something we're committed to. And we don't have to be fearful because we know that God is a God of limitless resources and God is going to bless us, and we live in that faith. And in that, that confidence, the final real aspect of this here is simply just put God first. Put God first. Not money. The tendency is of course, you know, I I I need to control it. And we sometimes, here's here, here's, here's something I want, I want to address. Sometimes we've been told, you know, it's like I've heard, heard pastor say this, God wants you to give with this sort of hilarity. He wants you to be so moved and so generous. And that is, that's ideal. That's, that's a matter of the heart. But sometimes we think or excuse not giving regularly, not, you know, doing what we're supposed to do, even when we are, you know, led to do it. Because if we're not moved with this sort of, you know, this Holy Spirit that makes us really passionate about something, then we're excused from doing it. And, and that's not the case. There is the aspect of putting God first and everything, and that means, well, it's hard to do, but put him first with your wallet, with your purse, your bank account, your money with your paycheck. What we do is we, we teach something just to help you visualize and encourage you to take a step on the generosity ladder. You know, wherever you are, you, I wanna show it to you. There's also there you'll be able to, uh, go to our website and, and you can see this expanded, but the, the first rung on the ladder is being an initial giver. You know, I get it, some people are like, you know, there's a lot of things going on in churches that aren't right. And it is, you know, it's true. There are people that are unscrupulous, there are people that are manipulative and so forth, and, and I understand that. But you know, that's why it's important for us to be good stewards, you know, to, to vet to be a part. But ultimately, you know, we're giving to God. And I would just encourage you, if you haven't given, let me encourage you to do that and then progress to the next rung. And that is to be a consistent giver. As I mentioned, my, my friend, I, he's incredible guy. He said, you know, I would just wait and think, you know, I enjoyed writing, you know, a check and you know, I get to church and didn't, wouldn't take my checkbook. And I thought, oh, forget, I'll catch it on the back end. But there is freedom in the consistency of giving. What it does is it just provides you a baseline for God to work in your life and to, to bless you. And the goal is to get to this level of what I call obedient giving. Uh, here it's called an intentional giver. And that is understanding that what God wants from us when we're talking about generosity and what we're reading about here in this passage, is you have this church, these Macedonian churches, that they're not just tithing, okay? Obedient giving is giving the first 10th of what God's given you. Giving that back to him as a matter of worship, saying, God, you're responsible. I recognize this all comes from you and I'm grateful and I give this and I trust that you're going to provide for me. Well, again, that's a first 10th. I, I know that can be very daunting, and I know that can be hard to do it in your mind. You think, man, I don't know how in the world this is going to work. I'm just telling you, for me, since I was 21, got married, this was a priority that Kim and I had. And so we skimped on groceries, we skimped on a lot of things, but we gave, and that put us in a place where we knew that God blessed us. Now I realize, you know, it's a stretch, try to do 10%, but I would just encourage you to look at where you are. Do recurring giving, do it automated. Uh, I know that's something that's been a huge help. I, I just, I don't have to worry about it. I don't have to think about it, but I'm at that level of obedience. It's not 10% Wherever you are, I, I'm encourage you step up percentage, just see what God does. And of course, ultimately I would just encourage you to jump in with both, both feet. Trust God. Here's what happens. When it comes to our finances, we think, okay, I've gotta get a better handle on it. So, you know, once I make more, once I get out of debt, then I can give, then I can be obedient in my giving. I'm just telling you, if you think like that, you probably never will be, because there's always gonna be something, there's always going to be something. When you get above that 10%, then that is really sacrificial giving. And that's what we're reading about here. I mean, these, these impoverished Christians were all already, they were bringing their, their, um, gift of obedience to, to the Lord, and it was being used to the church. But this is something that, hey, we want go beyond this. We want to sacrifice not giving because we're just supposed to, but we're giving because we wanna be a part God of what you're doing in these other Christians' lives who are needy. And, and we are, we're gonna be apart. That is a great place to be. I mean, just imagine the blessings of seeing the fruit of some of those things. I also wanna encourage you, you know, to think about legacy giving, legacy giving is, you know, with retirements and 4 0 1 Ks and so forth, it's like, how, how does God want me to, to use this, to manage this, to further expand his his kingdom? I, I wanna just encourage you think about this. Again, this is not about the church needing something. It is about you reflecting the heart of God, you living that out following his example, setting aside the excuses because you know and believe that he is the way, the truth and the life and that he will bless you. The next step is simply this. We don't give because we have extra. Alright? We give because God is enough. We encourage you to get on the generosity ladder. Take that next step up, take that next rung. Lemme tell you how I know I, uh, things were so hard for so long. Kim and I waited seven years before we had kids, and part of that was intentional. And my sort of motto was, is I don't wanna raise them in, in the mission like the Gospel Union mission down on Lancaster because man, kids are expensive. I told you what our grocery budget was. We, you know, started the church. Things were tight. We lived in this thousand foot, um, house built in the fifties in, uh, in Holton City. So grateful for the opportunity that we had that house. Um, I drove a geo metro, if you remember what those are, three cylinder cars. I got 140,000 miles on that. You know what I did put another engine in it. I mean, again, that's how tight things were. I'm telling you, we had our first child in that house. Um, Kim was pregnant, uh, with our second child, and we just, we needed more space. And I happened to know of this, this couple that we're talking about selling their house, and it wasn't even on the market yet. And so I just felt prompted. I ran the numbers. I I I came to them and I said, look, I, I don't want to offend you. This has nothing to do with the value of the house. But I said, I've come up with every way in the world to try to figure out how we might could do this. And said, the, the most that I can pay is $65,000 for this house. You know, it took a day or two wonderful, incredible people, but they said, yes, we lived in that house over 18 years. It was a blessing of God. It is a way that he provided. Now, the house was worth probably at least, at least twice that, I mean, when we bought it. I'm just telling you, God shows up and he does things and, and I, I believe this with all my heart. This is why I am passionate about this because I think there's two powerful messages in the scripture that you and I, if we can get and applies as Christians, it, it, again is so freeing. And that is the power of forgiveness. God's forgiven you when you can forgive others in your life. And then when you can understand that really what God has given me, you can't outgive God. You can't out bless God. God wants to bless you. He wants to make you a part of what he's doing in the world. We gotta reject this bag mindset. We've gotta understand that God is a God who, who fills barns in our lives and in some way or another, if we'll just trust him. I hope you'll hang with us through this series and just see what God does. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you for your love. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your generosity toward us. God, my prayer is for anyone that that hears this, sees this. If they're not certain that they have a relationship with you, I pray that you would just give them the courage to reach out on their connection card, either digitally or physically. But God, I pray that you would use this time. I know God for some, it's, it's uncomfortable. But Lord, I want you to do a work in my life. I pray for each and every person, Lord, that you would work in their lives. Help us be receptive and open in our hearts and our minds, but we commit these things thanking you, Jesus, for the salvation that you have provided through the gift of your son Jesus. In your name we pray, amen.