Sunday School | Foundations - Generosity

Wanted to see how many of you know what the mission of Church of the Holy Spirit is? That's right. You wanna say it? Healthy disciples making healthy disciples. And here's one of the reasons that I love this so much—it's catchy and easy to remember. But one of the reasons I love it is that it contains within it both the great commandment and the great commission.

If you think about it, becoming a healthy disciple is the great commandment. Jesus, when asked what is the most important thing for human beings to do, he said:

The greatest commandment is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. — Matthew 22:37-39

And we are becoming people who make healthy disciples, and that is the great commission.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples. — Matthew 28:18-19

And that is what we are about here at Church of the Holy Spirit—becoming people who love God the most. My mentor, Pat Goodman, used to say this, and I love this thought. He would say, a healthy disciple is someone who loves most the one who loves us the most. That is what it means to be a disciple. He is my main priority. And hopefully, everything that we've talked about in this class and everything we talk about on a Sunday is to that end—to teach us to more fully bring our lives under his lordship.

Here's a way that C.S. Lewis says this same idea:

Aim at heaven and get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and get neither.

Isn't that the truth? When we aim at heaven, we get the whole thing. But here's the question I want to ask you this morning: How do you know where you're aiming? If someone was to ask you that question and put you on the spot, where would you say you're aiming your life right now?

Let me ask you another question. How do you think Jesus might answer that question? Or how might he try to draw out an answer from you?

The Kingdom of God and Money

In the gospels, we see Jesus teaching people about the arrival of the kingdom of God, and that is unmistakably the primary theme of all four gospels. In fact, these are the top three things that Jesus talks about in the gospels: the kingdom of heaven, the nature of God—including Jesus' identity as God's son, God in the flesh—and third, what it means truly to be a disciple.

Here's my question. Does anybody want to take a stab at what number four is? If you survey the gospels, what is the fourth most discussed thing from Jesus' lips in the gospels?

It is money, possessions, and wealth. In Luke's gospel, one out of every five spoken words of Jesus has to do with money. Can you imagine just for a second if we adopted that policy here at CHS—that every fifth sermon was about your money? What do you think would happen to our attendance?

It would dwindle.

To Jesus, this was extremely, deeply important. And my question is, why? And it is not because Jesus cares most about money, but because money most clearly reveals what you and I care about. It was Jesus' greatest diagnostic test on your heart to find out what it was that you loved.

Here's the second reason that I think Jesus did it:

Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. — Luke 12:15

This is a unique warning from Jesus because he says, watch out. And the question is, why would Jesus have to say that about this sin in particular? And the answer to that is because it hides in plain sight.

Jesus did not have to say, watch out for adultery, because you know when you are committing adultery. It doesn't sneak up on you. It's obvious. But here's the uncomfortable reality: no one generally thinks they have a problem with this. No one thinks they're greedy.

Now, if I was to ask you, "Hey, do you struggle with greed?" and you were like, "No, I actually don't. I'm pretty generous." And I was like, "Great. How would you feel opening up your bank account to me?"

What would happen inside your heart and your mind? Would you begin to feel a little bit uncomfortable? I know that I would. Now we might say, "Well, gosh, those things are private. That's none of your business." Why? Perhaps another reason that we would feel uncomfortable opening up the books of our life is because it would reveal something we don't want anyone else to see—greed. It hides in plain sight, and we struggle with it and we don't know.

Now why is greed a problem? Why is this something that needs to be talked about? Why is it that Jesus—every fifth word in Luke's gospel is about this? Eleven of the thirty-nine parables are about money. Why is greed a problem? This is not rhetorical. I would love to hear. Why is greed important to Jesus?

It leads to covetousness. What else? Love of money. And notice it's not money is the root of all evil. It is the love of money. Anything else? Yes. Did you hear that? We're worshiping the creation and not the creator. And I'm glad you used that word because money, perhaps more than anything else, will be what competes for your worship. That is what it is. It is worship.

Paul, the apostle, in Colossians three, I want you to notice this trend. This happens twice in his epistles. He says:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. — Colossians 3

Then he interrupts himself. Look at this:

For this, you can be sure, no immoral person, impure or greedy person, such a person is an idolater. — Colossians 3

Paul has to interrupt himself. Why? Because we don't think greed is a problem. And Paul is telling you, he had said immoral, impure, those are bad things. And then he says, greed, such a person is an idol worshiper. Greed, money, wealth—it is the thing most likely that will compete for your allegiance to Christ more than anything else, and most of us are asleep at the wheel on this.

Idolatry

One of my favorite verses on idolatry, and just a quick definition. Tim Keller calls idol worship. John Calvin would say that our hearts are idol factories. Idolatry is your functional savior. It is what you are actually looking to, to be your god, to make you feel okay about life, to pull you through the difficult times.

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. — Jonah 2:8

I've shared before from this stage a video of how they catch monkeys in Africa. They would burrow a little hole in the side of a hill, they would put some fruit seeds in there. The monkey sees it and he goes over and he reaches in and he grabs the seeds and his hand is now in a fist and he cannot get his fist out and he's a slave. And then this guy comes and just puts a leash around his neck and walks him away. All the monkey has to do is just let go. This is what idolatry is. It is clinging to worthless, vain, powerless idols. All we have to do. They cannot deliver what they promise.

And if you are someone who has accumulated and amassed wealth, you know this to be true because there is no such thing as enough. It just we need more. We look at the bottom line. We're trying to grow that number on a spreadsheet. Our net worth—that is the thing that's going to make me feel secure? It doesn't. It is a worthless idol. And notice, those who do it, they forfeit grace. There is something available to us that we cannot and will not experience until we let go.

So here's the point. God isn't after your money. What is he after? He's after your heart, and he will not have your heart until you let go of your money. Jesus knew this. God knows this. God owns everything. Don't be misled into thinking that God cannot accomplish his purposes unless you help him with your financial resources. That is not what's going on here. It is that you will not love God so long as you are worshiping money.

Old Testament Standard for Giving

So what is the old testament standard? We're gonna fly through this pretty quick. I'm just gonna give you one slide, we're gonna look at it briefly. But before I flip to the next slide, what is the old testament standard for giving? Anybody just wanna throw out a thought?

10% tithes. That's good. Tithe literally means tenths and the idea was the first 10% of what you receive, you give back to God. And it is a reminder to yourself, and it is an offering to him. Everything that I have in this life is yours, God. And therefore, I'm just going to give you this little symbol, this tithe, this tenth. It's a pittance. I'm just gonna give it back to you to remind myself and to praise you.

What else? Anything else from the old testament? Offerings. Let me just tell you this. We say 10%. There were 210% tithes that were required by the people Israel every single year. There was the Levitical tithe, 10% (Numbers 18:21). There was the festival tithe, 10%. And then there was the tithe for the poor, and that was once every three years, and that was also 10%. And if you do the math, what they were expected to and what they did give, sometimes begrudgingly, was roughly 22 to 23% per year.

Now, I feel like I'm looking at your faces and I just want to pause. Listen. This is about healthy disciples. It is about becoming a healthy disciple. It is not about helping us meet our budget. I can say this with integrity. I don't want your money. We want your hearts. It is our job to make healthy disciples here. And I'm telling you, friends, if we do not talk about this, we are doing you a disservice. 23% was what God's people in the Old Testament gave. Is that legalism? Or let me ask it in this way.

Would it be legalism to say, well, then we ought to at least require our people to give 20 to 23%? Is this legalism? I'd love to hear from you. What do you think? Be honest. What God wants is our heart, then requiring it is not legalism.

Yeah, Mike?

Well, in the context, why are you defining legalism? As a path to salvation or as a standard to be a disciple of it?

So if it's path to salvation, it is legalism.

Okay, thank you. Michael said, if it is a path to salvation, then yeah, it is legalism. And I'm glad that you said that because I think that in the name of legalism, Christians have forfeited grace that could be theirs. Let me just spend a minute on this.

God's law is not bad. It is good. When God tells us to do something in the Old Testament, it's good. The 10 Commandments are good. They are a reflection of who God is. It's a reflection of his character. And when we don't keep the 10 Commandments, it's bad for us. People who carry out the 10 Commandments, it is good for them. That's just the truth.

What is bad about the law? It is earning. It is thinking that in my keeping of it, God will be happier with me. He'll love me more. I'll earn my way into his kingdom. That is legalism.

The New Covenant does not replace God's law as if to say, man, those poor Israelites had all these burdensome laws. We have grace. We can do whatever we want. Do you know what? I worked with college students for about thirteen years on Young Life staff, and that was the idea of freedom in Christ—that it meant I could do whatever I want, and I'll be showered in his grace. Isn't that wonderful?

See, this was the problem in Romans chapter six. It was people saying, "Look, Paul, you cannot teach this doctrine of grace because what it's going to produce is lawlessness. People are gonna do whatever they want." And Paul said, "You don't understand. Grace produces the exact opposite. Grace, when it truly takes root in your heart, it doesn't discount the law. What it does is it gives you a heart that wants to keep it. Grace is divine enablement. It is his Spirit."

See, what we need—the problem with the law is you can't keep it. Therefore, what we need is someone to come keep it for us so we're no longer under its penalty, and then we need someone to come and give us a new heart so that we have new power to keep it.

In the name of legalism, many of us—not just in the area of our finances, but especially in the area of our finances—have said, "Those poor Israelites had all these laws. We didn't have to give. We don't have to give because God doesn't really care. He just wants my heart right. And if we don't give, he doesn't have it." That is just a fact.

And hear me, I'm after your heart, okay? I'm not trying to increase the balance sheet of the church. That's the Holy Spirit's job.

The Purpose of Giving

I'm gonna summarize this because the purpose of God's instruction to us to give in the Old Testament was never legalism either. It was to remember where it came from. Lest you forget and you start thinking that you're the one that produced your wealth, this would be incredibly appropriate for those of you who are good at this. God has made you gifted with money, investing. You're an entrepreneur. You've built business, and you have great wealth. And he warns—Moses warns his people, God's people in Deuteronomy eight. He says, "Listen. Don't start thinking you did that."

What is the New Testament standard? Is it less? Do you think that the people of God in the New Testament under the covenant of grace are going to give less than the people in the Old Testament under the covenant of law? I think the answer is obvious.

I just wanna breeze through a few of these. And these are all from Luke. Actually, the first three are. Obviously, the last one's from Acts.

The rich young ruler—I believe that's Luke 18. The rich young ruler can't follow Christ. Why? This guy, he's successful, he's moral, he's searching. He's like, "Jesus, what is the secret?" Jesus is like, "Keep the commandments." He's like, "I've kept them. There is something missing." One thing you lack—sell it all. Follow me.

What happened? He walked away sad. Not because the offer wasn't on the table, but because he was unwilling to let go. It was an idol, which in Jonah two, that word for those who cling—it is to hedge about as with thorns. That's what the Hebrew word means. You can't touch this god. This is off limits to you. It's mine. So no, you can't look at my bank account.

Zacchaeus, on the other hand, the very next chapter. What is the evidence that salvation has come to this house today? Zacchaeus is like, "I'm giving it all away. Everything I've stolen, I'm giving it back four times, and I'm giving half of the rest to you, God." Jesus says, after Zacchaeus talks about what he's gonna do with his money—see, it's a diagnostic in both directions.

It's a diagnostic for us to know what we are actually worshiping, and it's a diagnostic test here for Jesus to say, "Oh my goodness. The clearest evidence that salvation has come to this house today is what he has decided he's going to do with money." That's powerful.

The widow's mite. I love this story too. There's all these people coming, giving their big gifts in public. But see, Jesus sees inside the heart, which is what he's after. And this woman gives a tiny little gift and he says, "She gave more than everybody." Why? Because what she gave relative to what she had was massive.

For some of us in here, 10% is a stretch. For some of us in here, I'm gonna use flamboyant language—10% is a joke. It just is because you don't feel it.

Now, I wanna pause here and just tell you, I'm passionate about this because God grabbed me and got my attention. I remember preparing for a sermon on this a few years ago, and I read a book by Randy Alcorn. Maybe you remember me preaching the sermon. I texted Melissa as I was reading this, and I just said, "This is going to be the most expensive sermon I've ever prepared for." He rattled me. He rang my bell. I felt so convicted.

For three years prior to coming to be the pastor of this church—which I did not plan to do—I was a full time real estate investor. My whole life, every day, it was building my portfolio, it was increasing my bottom line, it was making things more efficient and more profitable, it was always finding the better deal. I got obsessed. I got addicted. And do you know what happened to the quality of my life? I was consumed and it was hollow. It was empty because those who cling to vain idols forfeit grace. I didn't know I was worshiping something else.

The early church in Acts—you know what they did? It's uncomfortable. They sold everything, and they just brought it to the apostles. "We don't need this anymore. We have Christ."

Now listen. I'm not suggesting that you leave here today and liquidate your portfolio and sell your real estate and bring it back to the church. What I am saying is that if you did, something would happen in your heart. Please hear me. I'm not saying to do that. This is one of the places God says, "Don't ever test me," but he begs you to test him on this. In Malachi 3, he's like, "You're robbing me by withholding the tithe. I dare you to bring the full tithe into the storehouse and see if I don't take care of you."

See, this presses on a nerve. This presses on something deep within us. "Do you trust me? Do you trust not only that I'll provide for you, but that your pleasure in life, that your joy in life, that your peace in life—it is not a byproduct of what you own and possess. It is a byproduct of trusting the one who possesses everything." And the question is, "Does he possess your heart?"

I wanna look at a quick passage together in Matthew 6:19-24, and then I wanna just give some practical suggestions.

Treasures on Earth vs. Heaven

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. — Matthew 6:19-20

Pay attention when Jesus is repetitive. He says, "Here's the problem with laying up treasure on earth. Because here's something true about earth—down here, things decay. Moth and rust destroy." That's another way of saying it doesn't last.

Let me give you a picture of this. One of the analogies from the book I read by Randy Alcorn: He says, imagine that you work overseas and you stay in a hotel, but you know it's not your permanent home. But you're there for a while, so you start thinking, "You know what? I'm gonna renovate this place." You call in a contractor, you start spending tens of thousands of dollars on your hotel room. It's silly, but do we really get that? This is not your permanent home. It's not mine either. And yet, we live as if this is all it's about.

Jesus says one of the things that will steal and snatch the word away from your heart more than anything else is the deceitfulness of riches. Life does not consist, Jesus says, in the abundance of possessions. It just doesn't.

Moth and rust destroy, but then secondly, where thieves break in and steal. Not only do things not last here, there's no guarantee that you will not lose what you've accumulated. Anybody experienced that before? Anybody know these initials: GFC? Great Financial Crisis, 2008. I remember—actually, I don't remember where I was because I had nothing at that point. It was 2008. Melissa and I were newly married and we just didn't have anything.

I'd honestly, I didn't even know what was in my April until 2009. I'd been on staff with Young Life for seven years. I'd never even thought to look.

Let's fast forward to a few years ago when I'd gotten really good at this—trying to invest time in the markets, build my real estate portfolio. In November 2021, there was another correction and it was steep, at least especially for the things that I was allocated to. And we were on vacation. Daniel's laughing. And it was unpleasant. I could not relax. Do you know why? Because I was worshiping something else.

There's no guarantee. We could have the Great Depression 2.0 next week. What are you trusting in?

Moth and rust decay, thieves break in and steal. — Matthew 6:19

You wanna lay up treasure here in this place that you know is not your final home with things that you can't guarantee that you're gonna keep? It will be your loss.

You know, one of the only places Jesus says "you fool" is when he's talking to the rich man who built bigger barns to store all of his stuff. He continues:

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. — Matthew 6:21

He says, don't do this, but do this: Store up treasure in heaven.

Can I tell you something? Instead of renovating your hotel room, what if you just sent your money back home where you know you're returning? Would that be better?

I don't think this is hyperbole. I don't think I'm making this up. You have a spiritual balance sheet. When you give to God's kingdom with a heart of worship, you are storing up—Jesus says—treasure in heaven. And I don't have time to get into this, but Tim and I talk about this often. There is a forgotten doctrine called the doctrine of rewards. The fact that you get to heaven is purely because of the work of Christ. It's his work alone. None of us will see eternal life because of things that we've done, but how you experience eternity deeply depends on how you live this life.

Paul would tell us in Second Corinthians, some of us will be saved, but as those escaping through the flames. Are you sending your money home where you know you're going one day, or are you renovating your hotel?

He says: Where your treasure is, your heart will be.

One of the greatest lies that we believe is that we follow our heart. You're gonna hear that a lot in the world—"Follow your heart" like it's good advice. Can I tell you what's actually true? Your heart follows you. You move first. You choose what you treasure and whatever you point your affection at and decide, "This is what matters to me." And one of the greatest ways to know what matters to you is to look at your bank account and to look at your calendar. What has my attention and what am I investing in with the financial resources that God has blessed me with? That will reveal what you actually treasure.

And what Jesus is promising here is whatever you choose to point your affection at, your heart will follow you there.

I was reading this book, and it was clear to me I was worshiping something else. I was your pastor. I opened up what's called a donor advised fund, and I just started getting rid of money that I was accumulating in my Fidelity brokerage account. I don't say that in pride. I say that embarrassed.

You know what happened in my heart? It started to expand for God. That's the promise. It is not that God will love us more. It is that when we give our money away, we love him more, and he is what it's all about.

Practicals

Now, let me finish with a few practicals. Here's the first one: Be honest about where you are. If I was to ask you, do you know how much you give—not a dollar amount, but do you know what percentage you give of your income? If you don't know, this is your first step. Not so you can brag about it, but so that you can know. That's the first step. Be honest. Don't just say, "Oh, yeah, I'm generous. I feel good about it. God only cares about my heart." Where are you at with this?

Second thing, I wanna encourage you: make it a goal to get to 10%. And I say this knowing that some of you right now are strapped. You can't even begin to think about this. There is grace. But I wanna promise you something. I think, for those of you that find yourselves in that situation, I don't wanna rob you of the grace that could be yours, especially in the place that you're in if you would be willing to trust him.

God says, test me in this. Therefore, don't stop there. 10% and I don't say this to shame you—10% is training wheels. The Israelites, God's people in the Old Testament, gave 23%. I don't know what the statistics are, but I'm telling you, God's people do not give 10%. We're less than half as good at this than the Israelites were.

Now they may have been doing it to earn God's favor. That's legalism. I'm not saying God will love you more. What I'm saying is the evidence that the gospel has transformed your life will show itself in generosity. Pay him first. There's a principle in the Bible called first fruits. When the first crops come in, we give it away.

I remember having a conversation with my buddy, Jason. We were sitting by the fire one night just talking about life, and he was telling me that he was feeling this desire to hedge about his money with thorns. He said he just started writing checks because he knew it's like a poison. The moment you start giving money away, it no longer owns me. Do you own your stuff or does it own you? The moment you sense it's got me, you need to write a check.

The Philippians 3 Principle

Okay, last thought. Pay attention to what happens when you do this. I call this the Philippians 3 principle. Paul is like, everything I have, Lord, take it. It's yours. Whatever you want, whatever you want to do with it. Because here's the principle: whatever I give to him, what do you think you get in return?

Whatever was to my profit, I now consider lost for the sake of Christ that I may gain Christ. I count it all rubbish that I may gain Christ. — Philippians 3:7-8

You want more of him? Let me tell you, this is a promise. Let go of your money and watch him come into your life. This is not televangelism. I'm not telling you, hey, you give money to this ministry and God's gonna bless you, he's gonna shower you with blessing. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is you will love him more if you let go, and that's true with anything in life.

Anything that raises itself up in front of your face and you go, "Oh my goodness, I am worshiping something else"—if you let it go, the Philippians 3 principle is: anything that I'm willing to trade in, even stuff that God's not necessarily asking you to trade in, if you trade it in, you gain Christ. And he, friends, he's better. Paul in that same chapter says:

Nothing compares to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I've lost all things. — Philippians 3:8

Why? Because Paul discovered the secret was not stuff. It was him. And the more I let go of my stuff, the greater my heart has the capacity to receive and experience him.

This is a discipleship lesson, and my hope is that God would move in your heart to let go of your money so that you could receive more of him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you. We ask in your name, Jesus, that you would help us here. We struggle. I struggle. But, Lord, I believe, and I know it. I've tasted it. You're better than stuff. You're better than my money. I pray that all of us, that we in Roanoke would be so absurdly generous that lost people would take notice of us and ask us, "What is different about you? Why do you have this hope?" We love you. In Christ's name. Amen. Thanks, everybody.