with radical generosity

A carnival set up in the concourse down in Chatswood.

They had a variety of side shows on display,

one of which was a strongman competition.

What that means is they had this 150 kilogram muscle-bound hulk of a bloke

who was squeezing oranges into a glass

until he couldn't get any more drops of juice out of it

and then he'd throw the challenge out there to the crowd that had gathered

and amazed at how strong this guy was.

Throw the challenge out.

Anyone who can squeeze even one more drop out of the orange,

you get $1,000 in prize money.

Many from Crunch Gym tried, but no one succeeded.

Until that is a young Asian lady watching from the back,

stepped up to the platform, grabbed the orange,

proceeded to squeeze and squeeze this orange

until another half a cup of juice came out of the orange.

The crowd roared with delight as the $1,000 of prize money was handed over.

The muscle-bound hulk of a bloke was somewhat embarrassed and flabbergasted.

And so he asked her who she was and how on earth did she manage to do that?

She said, my name is Wendy Jay.

I'm the treasurer of the local Anglican church.

And I do this every Sunday with a collection.

It's not a true story.

Just for Jason's sake, wherever he is, where's Jason?

It's not a true story, Jason.

What I'm speaking about today is practically a taboo subject in our culture.

While we might put up with a money sermon once or maybe twice a year,

we expect it's sort of things like on, you know, Commitment Sunday,

if we do it much more than that,

and I run the risk of being accused of just being interested in people's money.

And yet money is a big deal to God.

Jesus talked about money 10 to 20 times more than he talked about sex,

and twice as much as he talked about prayer and faith.

One third of Jesus' parables were about money,

and he sets up money, of all the things he picked on,

he set up money as the alternative God,

where he said you cannot serve both God and money.

The practical reality is that all too often raising funds for ministry and for mission

is like squeezing the orange,

trying to get those last drops out

and making every little bit stretch as far as we possibly can.

The reason for that is that money is a spiritual issue.

It is not a financial issue for the Christian.

And so we're finishing 1 Corinthians

with the first four verses of the chapter, of chapter 16,

where it raises the issue of taking up a collection

for the support of other churches.

And we're going to jump around the Bible a bit

and look at this issue of radical generosity,

how the cross shapes our wallets and our purses.

We're going to see how money exercises power over us,

which is why we don't give as much as we should.

We're going to see why money exercises power over us

and how we break that power that it has over us.

1 Corinthians 16, if you've got your Bibles open there,

begins with the familiar now about or now concerning.

It's the fifth time that Paul has used this little phrase

to address another issue that the Corinthian church

had previously written to him about.

And so he's bringing clarity to them on this particular issue.

The collecting of money here is the issue that they need clarity on.

And it's collecting of money from the missionary churches of the Gentiles

that Paul had established and planted

for the mother church back in Jerusalem.

The collection started as a support of the mother church

during a severe famine, which hit Judea in the first century,

and it brought enormous hardship throughout Judea

and particularly the capital in Jerusalem.

And Paul gives very simple advice to this church of Corinth

as he did with the other churches that were collecting money for Jerusalem.

It's in verse 2.

He says,

On the first day of the week,

each one of you should set aside a sum of money

in keeping with his income.

And so what he encourages here

is regular proportional giving accordance with your income.

Over time, though,

this church of Corinth stumbled on this issue.

They might have had a good start,

but they sort of petered out over time.

Paul addresses the fact that they were petering out

on his instructions here in 1 Corinthians 16

in his second letter, 2 Corinthians,

and in chapters 8 and 9.

Paul was concerned not that this church of Corinth

would fail in the collection.

His concern was that they would fail to excel

in the grace of giving,

that they would fail to keep giving and go beyond giving.

That was his concern.

What we notice as you go through the scriptures

is that the Bible revolutionizes our view of money and generosity.

In 1 Chronicles,

and this is where I want to challenge us tonight

in terms of our view of money.

Let's have a biblical perspective of it,

on what we have.

1 Chronicles 28 and 29,

King David is raising funds

for the building of the temple in Jerusalem.

And he prays to God in these words.

He says,

Everything in heaven and on earth is yours.

Wealth and honour come from you.

Everything comes from you.

And we have only given what comes from your hand.

What that's saying there is

that everything that you have,

everything that we have,

is a gift from God.

Everything.

Now, that might seem a little offensive

because we've worked really hard for what we have,

but we've worked really hard,

or your parents have worked really hard,

with abilities, opportunities, circumstances,

and health that God has provided.

It's very easy for us in our culture to say,

well, I've just worked really hard,

and I've been really lucky,

and I've made some really wise choices.

If you were born in the 5th century,

in the jungles of New Guinea,

you wouldn't be able to say that.

Everything that you have

has been given to you from God.

But it's not just that everything comes from God's hand.

Here's the next bit.

Everything that comes from God's hand

is still owned by God.

It's His.

God does not give up ownership of something

when He gives it to us.

So what that means is that we relate to our money

and our resources

the way an investment manager relates

to the wealth of their clients.

And there are plenty of parables in the New Testament

that talk about this.

If you are an investment manager,

you don't operate as if the money is yours

and that you can do whatever you want with it.

There's an accountability to it

as an investment manager.

You have to invest the money

in line with the purposes and the desires

and the directions and the values of the investor.

If you take their money

and do something else with it,

it's called fraud.

And God is the great creator investor.

Everything we have comes from Him.

It is His.

And we are His investment manager.

And if we deny the investment manager role

that we have with God's resources

and regard ourselves as the ultimate owner

of everything we got,

we actually rob God.

That's how strong the language is in Malachi 3

that was just read out to us.

Where God is talking about His people's failure

to be generous.

God poses a question to them.

He says,

Will a man rob God?

And yet you rob me.

The word rob here is a very rare word.

It's in fact used only in one other place in the Bible.

It is a word that really means to oppress,

to pillage, to plunder, to rape.

It is a very violent word.

And this is what the people of God are doing to God.

And when they hear this,

they're shocked.

How do we rob you?

How on earth could we be possibly doing that to you, God?

What are you talking about, God?

And God comes back and says,

I'm talking about your lack of generosity with money.

I'm talking about the fact that you spend more on yourself.

You have a tendency not to give away.

You see, when they keep it for themselves,

they are robbing God,

plundering, pillaging,

raping God's purposes

for His world.

So instead of building up,

it's destroying.

And according to these verses,

these people in Malachi 3

are oblivious to it.

And that is the power that money has over us.

A great deal of the power that money has over us

is that it blinds us

to the power that it has over us.

Money is different to other things

because we are blind to how much it is affecting us.

Materialism and greed

is a sin that blinds you to its presence.

That's why Jesus says in Luke chapter 12,

Luke 12 · chapter mention

watch out!

Watch out!

In the same way that if someone was crossing Fuller's Road right now

and they're oblivious,

they've got their headphones in,

they're wandering along,

there's a bus zooming down on them,

you'd go, watch out!

Because they haven't seen the bus.

And Jesus says, watch out!

For all kinds of greed.

Is there any place where Jesus says,

watch out!

For all kinds of sexual immorality.

Now it's,

well, I can't think of any.

It's not because

sexual immorality, adultery,

all that sort of stuff is any less sinful.

It's because we're blind to greed and materialism

in a way that you're not blind

to adultery and sexual immorality.

You don't go,

oh,

when you've committed adultery,

you're not my wife.

You're not my husband.

You know they're not.

Jesus doesn't say,

watch out,

you might be committing adultery

not knowing it.

Of course you know it.

But we sin,

this sin of greed and materialism,

you're blind to it.

And it's interesting

that I find after,

you know,

about 20 years of ministry

that no one has ever asked me

to preach on money

except other ministers

who've asked me to come in

and do it for them.

No one has ever asked me

to help them think

through a godly response

to their use of their money.

I've never heard anyone confess

greed and materialism,

that is the sin of greed

and materialism to me.

I've had all sorts of stuff

confessed to me

over the years.

You name it,

it's probably happened.

Except terrorist

or something like that,

never done that.

But,

no one has ever confessed

greed and materialism.

No one ever thinks

it's their problem.

And I would hazard a guess

that no one here

sitting in this room

at the moment

probably thinks

it's their problem.

They could probably think

of someone who is

it as their problem,

but it's not them.

No one ever asked me

to pray for them

and counsel them

because they were ungodly

in the use of their money.

But if we take the text

of the Bible seriously

then we should work

on the assumption

that it's true for us.

This is a blind spot for us

in the wealthy West.

We're blind too.

Now I'm saying

it's necessarily true of you.

I'm saying that the only way

to give any credence

to what the Bible says

is to always be checking

for this blind spot

which means you need help.

And fortunately

the Bible gives us some help.

The Bible does give us

at least one guideline

by which we can check ourselves

to see whether or not

money has a hold on us

and our understanding

of generosity

and giving to ministry

and charity

is anywhere

in the ballpark

of what God thinks

it ought to be.

And it's right here

in Malachi 3.

It's called the tithe.

The Old Testament scriptures

required

that all people

give 10% of their annual income

to the temple.

And historically

this has raised a question

for whether this is an obligation

for Christians or not.

And the word tithe

is mentioned only once

in the New Testament

but it is very significant.

It's in Luke chapter 11

Luke 11:42

verse 42

and Jesus is talking

to the Pharisees

and he says this to them

woe to you Pharisees.

In other words

curse upon you Pharisees

because you give God

a tenth of your mint

you ruin all kinds

of garden herbs

but you neglect justice

and the love of God.

You should have practiced

the latter

without leaving

the former undone.

That is

it's right for you

to give a 10%.

But the trouble

with the Pharisees

is they have this

legalistic limitation

that they're operating in.

They give 10%

and view the 90%

as theirs.

God you got your bit

the rest is mine.

And so when an issue

of justice and love

or some other need

pops up

they go

not my problem.

They refuse to go

beyond the tithe.

They aren't being driven

by the grace

they aren't being driven

by the gospel

by love

by justice

they've been driven

by a legalistic code

of conduct

that pats themselves

on the back.

And I don't think

that we could ever

expect God to say

to his New Testament

people with greater

blessing

greater privileges

greater hope

in the gospel

you can give less.

I suspect

the reason

tithing isn't

mentioned a whole lot

is because

we're not meant

to see it

as a legalistic

limitation

to our giving

but as a baseline

a guideline

a rule of thumb

a beginning

make sure

that you're

in the ballpark

and then

like the Lord Jesus

go beyond it.

Radical generosity.

Money

sorry

Malachi 3

also gives us

a clue

as to why

money has

such power

over us.

Bring the whole

tithe into the

storehouse

that there may

be food

in my house.

The word

house there

means God's

temple.

God's instruction

here is for

his people

to give

their gold

and silver

and their

resources

and so on

and whatever

into the

storehouse

of the

temple.

So the word

house means

temple

the word

storehouse

means treasury

it's the

treasury

of the

temple

and so

what the

instruction

here is

bring

your

treasure

the

stuff

that

I've

given

you

into

my

treasury

and when

God

says

bring the

whole

tithe

to me

into my

treasury

into my

temple

into the

service

of my

salvation

into the

worship

of me

the implication

is that

if you

are not

doing

that

then your

treasure

is in

another

treasury

it's a

matter of

who or

what you

really

trust

money

has a

hole in

us

because we

expect it

and we

trust it

to deliver

what only

God can

deliver

I'll give you

two examples

of what I

mean

firstly

if you

find it

really hard

to give

money away

and I

mean

you know

it's

hard

you've

got to

think

about

so much

just not

natural

just so

difficult

but it's

so incredibly

easy to

spend money

on clothes

on cars

on travel

on renovations

on entertainment

on takeaway

on you know

almost effortless

piece of cake

whip it out

spend it

go on

just like

that

then those

things

are your

real treasure

they are

your real

treasure

oh sorry

they are the

real treasury

of your

real temple

because

what you're

really doing

no matter

what you

say you

believe

is that

you're

actually

looking

to those

things

to get

the sense

of

security

desirability

acceptability

lovability

or experiences

whatever it

might be

rather than

looking to

God

for your

satisfaction

your

contentment

your

security

alternatively

there might

be those

amongst us

who look

at all

these people

around us

in our

consumeristic

culture

and you

puke at

that

these people

spending money

on clothes

and homes

and cars

and travel

and you

just sneer

you look

down your

nose

and you

think

what a

waste

and you're

so proud

of the

fact

that you've

been

wearing

and repairing

the same

pair of

undies

for 10

years

and that

you hang

out your

tea bags

to dry

so you

can reuse

them

and you're

living in

a small

apartment

and you

don't own

a mobile

phone

and you're

just really

frugal

and what

you're doing

instead is

you're putting

your money

away into

banks

and investments

for a rainy

day

but you

like the

spender

is still

controlled

by money

you're still

under the

power of

money

if you

find it

very hard

to give

money away

but very

easy to

save it

then your

bank is

your temple

rather than

God you

are looking

to your

bank to

give you

control

that's what

it ultimately

is about

it's about

control

in a

very

very

chaotic

and unpredictable

world

where only

God has

control

instead of

God

I've got

beauty

and acceptance

because of

these great

clothes

instead of

God

I've got

control

because of

these

investments

instead of

God

I've got

comfort

and security

because of

this great

house

it is so

incredibly

easy

to give

money to

whatever

is your

saviour

your lord

your hope

your happiness

your meaning

your significance

and your

security

money reveals

what we

truly

worship

and that is

why Jesus

says you

can't serve

both God

and money

he sets

up money

as the

alternative

God

because it

promises us

security

and hope

and freedom

and a clear

conscience

and a good

health

but it will

never deliver

for us

what we think

it will deliver

for us

the biggest

saving account

in the world

cannot stop

cancer

it cannot stop

traffic accidents

it cannot stop

family

disintegration

it cannot stop

broken hearts

God is the

only one

who can give

you genuine

security

he's the

only one

who can give

you genuine

significance

he's the only

love that you

can never

lose

and so

how do we

break this

power that

money has

over us

the answer

is the

gospel of

the Lord

Jesus

Paul puts

it like this

in 2

Corinthians 8

this is when

he's addressing

this church

at Corinth

that failed

to really

follow through

in his

instructions

here in

1 Corinthians

16

so this is

his second

letter to

them

he says

see that you

also excel

in the grace

of giving

I'm not

commanding you

but I want

to test

the sincerity

of your

love

for you

know the

grace of

our Lord

Jesus

Christ

that though

he was

rich

yet for

your

sakes

he became

poor

so that

you through

his poverty

might become

rich

everyone

in this

room

has set

their heart

on something

every one

of them

every one

of us

here

you've set

your heart

on something

it might

be

the children

your

grandchildren

it might

be a

status

it might

be

career

it might

be

physical

beauty

it might

be

leisure

it might

be

investments

it might

be the

great

Australian

dream

it might

be

international

travel

any list

of things

that you

could set

your heart

on

whatever

your heart's

treasure

is

you will

do

anything

for it

you will

pay any

cost for

it

you will

do

anything

to

maintain

it

sustain

it

and reclaim

it

and what

this

passage

here says

from 2

Corinthians 8

is that

Jesus Christ

came and

he died

for us

why would

he do

that

why would

he do

that

I think

at least

one

answer

to that

question

is that

you and

I are

his

heart's

treasure

he has

set

his heart

on you

me

every

other

treasure

in this

world

will insist

that we

die to

purchase

it

that we

sacrifice

to get

it

but

Jesus

is

the

only

treasure

that

died

to

purchase

you

and

that's

why we

have a

mission

statement

that says

that we

exist

to treasure

Jesus

above

everything

in this

world

now what

Paul does

here

he puts

no pressure

on your

will

he doesn't

say

I'm

an apostle

you're

Christians

I started

you churches

do what I

tell you to

do and

give money

doesn't

say that

he doesn't

even put

pressure on

your emotions

he doesn't

try to

even wind

the heart

come on

guys

you're so

rich

you got

all these

possessions

you got

all this

money

you'd

say this

and look

at these

poor

orphans

over here

starving

kids

with big

eyes

and your

heart

goes

oh man

I've got

to hand

over 20

bucks

to help

feed those

kids

he doesn't

play with

your emotions

he doesn't

force your

will

he just

says simply

here that

if you do

not have

the freedom

to give

away your

money in

eye-popping

proportions

it's because

something other

than the

Lord Jesus

Christ is

your functional

Lord and

Saviour

that's what

he says

and he

says the

way to

break the

hold that

money has

on your

life

is to

think about

the radical

generosity of

the Lord

Jesus Christ

on the

cross

until

you get

freedom to

give

when we

see Jesus

dying because

he loved the

world so

much

then and

only then

will we

love him

when we

see that

we are his

greatest

treasure and

that he has

given everything

for us to be

the treasure of

his heart

then he'll

become ours

the vice of

the apostle

Paul here is

don't sit down

with a

calculator if

you want to

break the

power of

money over

your life and

grow in

generosity

sit down

with the

cross and

think about

what Jesus

did what he

has given

what he has

promised until

it wells up

in you

a freedom

a radical

generosity to

give your money

away in eye

popping proportions

I read

recently the

sad reality

is that many

Christians are

in fact not

radically generous

that is they

confess with

their mouth

that they

follow Jesus

but they have

really little

grasp of

the impact

of the cross

they're not

actually living

the cross

shaped life

recent survey

said that

20% of

those who

regarded

this is

evangelical

Christians

these are

people in

our camp

20% of

those who

regarded

themselves as

mature or

very mature

Christians

let alone the

rest of them

had never

given a

single cent

to any

form of

ministry or

charity

nothing

20%

that's

astounding

it's astounding

that anyone

would link

Christian

maturity with

a lack

of giving

that's an

oxymoron

doesn't exist

you can't

you cannot

be a mature

Christian and

not give

money

it's impossible

and also

it's said that

in the western

world the

average Christian

gave just

2.7%

of their

income

away

2.7%

and if

the American

Christians

alone

just America

forget about

us guys

just lump

their

responsibility

on them

if the

American

Christians

alone

actually

obeyed

this passage

and gave

10% of

their income

every year

they'd be able

to wipe

out world

hunger

just the

American

Christians

alone

our own

stats here

at St Paul's

is that

30%

of

St Paul's

members

give

over

80%

of our

budget

just

30%

give

80%

of our

budget

and for

time to

build

we put

it to

vote

97%

of our

church

said

let's

proceed

with

this

building

project

and

the

establishment

of the

international

Chinese

school

but to

date

around

45%

have

actually

partnered

with that

project

financially

we all

agree

it's a

good

idea

but only

50%

of us

have

actually

well less

than 50%

of us

have actually

given

something

to it

and so

in line

with

1 Corinthians

16

and the

call

throughout

this

whole

series

of

1 Corinthians

about

living

the

cross

shaped

life

I

call

you

to

give

according

to

your

ability

equal

sacrifice

unequal

giving

is the

principle

what that

means is

that some

of you are

better off

than others

and it

turns out

that spider

man agrees

with the

bible

when he

said

with great

power

comes great

responsibility

that's what

the bible

says

some of you

have been

gifted many

talents

not for

your sake

but

but as

God's

investment

manages

to use

it

for

his

sake

for

his

glory

for

his

kingdom

but there

might be

those

amongst

us

and I

suspect

in this

room

here

thinking

that

you know

dude

I got

just

small

small

little

bits

coming

and going

here

and there

you know

my parents

feed me

pocket money

whatever

it is

and you

think

a small

contribution

won't make

much

difference

I want

to say

that

everything

that we

hope to

do

here

as a

church

would

not happen

without

the

partnership

across

the board

of this

whole

church

it is

profoundly

unhelpful

for us

and unhealthy

for us

to have

a few

big

givers

and

very few

contributors

across the

church

that's not

healthy

I want

to suggest

broad

regular

modest

and

sacrificial

giving

all adds

up to

enormous

impact

now I'm

going to

tell you

I'm

going to

get

personal

right

here

this is

a personal

note

I'm

not

asking

you

to

do

anything

that

Natalie

and I

aren't

doing

she's

sitting

here

in the

room

tonight

we are

committed

to this

church

family

we're

committed

to the

vision

the direction

we're

heading

as a

church

we want

to see

lives

transformed

through

the

ministry

of this

church

by the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

for all

of

eternity

and that

means

sacrifice

the

time to

build

project

that's

currently

going

on

right

now

is

the

biggest

single

amount

that we

and as

I said

on a

video

which

some

of you

saw

a few

weeks

ago

our

giving

has

doubled

in the

past

year

a year

ago

we put

down

what we

thought

we'd

give

and we

went

and we're

giving more

than that

now

and our

giving has

gone

five times

as much

as it

was when

we started

here five

and a half

years ago

I want

to encourage

you to

apply a

principle

that

Natalie

and I

have

we've

never

really

named

it

I've

named

it

as of

the

last

few

days

it's

a

principle

that

we've

worked

with

when

it

comes

to

giving

it's

called

the

big

gulp

principle

that

is

you

write

a

figure

on

a

piece

of

paper

and

you

go

if

it

doesn't

make

you

go

then

maybe

you

should

write

another

figure

on

piece

of

paper

and

I

say

that

because

of

Malachi

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

chapter

3

Malachi

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

chapter

3

God

says

bring

in

all

the

tithes

and

offerings

in

the

storehouse

test

me

on

it

test

me

he

says

I

dare

you

to

test

me

with

your

money

see

that

I

will

not

bless

you

we

he

had a

great

testimony

and

God's

blessed

them

I

stand

here

saying

that

it

has

pushed

that

nine

the

last

12

months

and

I

suspect

will

continue

to

push

us

but

we

do

it

with

delight

and

God

continues

to

bless

us

our

kids

are

fed

probably

over

fed

but

our

kids

are

fed

we

got

no

complaints

sit

down

with

the

cross

and

make

a

decision

to

take

all

I'm

suggesting

is

you

take

one

step

forward

one

step

forward

in

showing

gratitude

for what

Christ

has

given

you

our

grasp

of

the

great

eternal

truth

the

great

treasure

that we

have

in

Jesus

will

be

reflected

in

a

life

of

radical

generosity

is

a

cross

shaped

life

so

the

one

step

forward

is

if

you're

that

20%

you've

not

given

anything

start

giving

if

you're

an

irregular

giver

spasmodic

giver

start

giving

regularly

that's

your

step

forward

if

you're

a

regular

giver

but

you're

only

giving

in

a

small

proportion

you know

like

you'd

be

lucky

to

do

the

2.7%

take

steps

to

move

towards

the

ballpark

that God

says

that we

should be

playing in

10%

and if

you are

a regular

and proportional

giver

that is

you're already

sitting there

at the

10%

take a

step

towards

extravagant

giving

don't be

like the

Pharisee and

go

I'm doing

my bit

90%

mine

10%

God

experience

the joy

of radical

generosity

a phrase

that we've

used a

number of

times in

this series

in 1

Corinthians

is

living a

cross

shaped

life

that's

what this

passage

is about