A Generous Life: The Commitment, Pastor John Authenreith 08-30-26

Thing.

What a great, great worship this morning.

As you can see, I'm rocking the orange shirt again.

There's a whole bunch of them around here.

Do you see that?

That's right.

Live group signups continue today.

And then we have church in the park next week, and then our fall group launch, and everything starts on the 13th.

Oh my gosh, the Lord is doing some great things around here.

And if you're not in a group yet, we still have room for you.

There are signups out there.

And uh make sure you grab one of those.

That's what we do around here, right?

They dedicated themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, and uh life groups are all about that.

So we want to see you get in the life group.

And the shirt says, Ask me about my life group.

So just ask anybody with the shirt on about their life group and they'll tell you.

They'll fill you in.

All right.

So there we are.

There we are.

And then we're continuing with week three of our series, a generous life.

I hope the last two weeks have been encouraging to you.

If you've missed any of those, you can go online and watch them on YouTube or any of the podcast platforms.

They're loaded every Monday morning after the other Sunday after.

And so uh the Monday after Sunday, you can listen to any of the messages that you may have missed.

And uh the last two weeks we've studied what God's Word has to say about possessions, about idols, about money, all that stuff, all the challenging stuff we don't like to talk about, right?

And if you remember, the bottom line of week one is that we must put God first, seek the kingdom of God above all else, God first.

Last week it was all about God owns everything anyway.

We learned that we are the managers of that which He has provided.

Do you remember that?

Good stewards, the big churchy word.

We learned about stewardship last week, being good stewards of that which the Lord has provided for us.

And we learned that that uh stewardship, uh, the word obedience equals both sacrifice and reward.

And today we're gonna put all of that together as we end uh this series.

This is the final week of this short series.

So I want to ask you, if have I ask you a question.

Have you ever committed yourself to something?

And then you said, What was I thinking?

Come on, raise your hand.

Have you ever done that?

What was I thinking?

Not one person in here or watching at home that has not said that.

What was I thinking?

Kind of reminds me of teaching my kids to drive that I told you about last week.

It was like, what was I thinking?

Uh that was certainly a challenge.

Or maybe your spouse committed you to something like my spouse committed me to uh getting a chicken coop together.

And I was as I was bleeding all over from uh uh hardware cough and uh chicken wire.

I was asking myself, what was I thinking?

But in 2011, uh for some reason, I don't know what I was thinking.

I decided that I was gonna go back to school.

So I was 50 years old.

Yes, you can do the math.

In 2011, I was 50 years old.

It's like I'm getting ready, I'm gonna go back to school, I'm gonna go get my master's degree in theology and go to seminary.

And I don't know what I was thinking, but uh I signed up in 2011 and I started going to school and taking classes.

And let me tell you something, it was hard.

It was hard.

I read over 30 books during this time and wrote several dozen papers and was online every week with my class, and it and this went on for three years.

It was such a challenge, and the whole time I'm thinking, what was I thinking?

It's like you want to go out to dinner?

No, I've got to write a paper.

Do you want to go do something this weekend?

No, I've got an exam, I've got to study for.

You know, for three years we went through that, and my poor wife was thinking the same thing.

What was I thinking, encouraging him to go to school?

But you know what?

After it was all over, I'm glad I did it.

Because after I got my degree, I was able to become ordained in the United Brother of Christ in our denomination, and that eventually brought me here.

So, you know, that was something that was worth it for me.

And I'm so glad that I did it.

Sometimes then, when you ask yourself, what was I thinking?

you got to jump in with both feet and do what you don't want to do.

Amen.

And sometimes, though, when it's all said and done, you're glad you did it.

And I know you've been there.

So take out your Bible.

Let's look at this.

Turn with me to uh the book of 2 Corinthians.

We're gonna be in chapter 9 today.

We'll have those on the screen for you in here and at home as well.

There are Bibles in front of you under the seat.

You want me to grab one of those?

And we're gonna we're gonna finish up our look at generosity today.

And let me set this up when we look at 2 Corinthians.

This was written by the Apostle Paul.

He wrote 1 Corinthians, obviously, and 2 Corinthians, and he was very involved in the church that he planted in Corinth.

And Corinth was uh is in uh south-central Greece, if I'm not mistaken.

And so uh Corinth was a huge city with a diverse population and a temple to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

That was their claim to fame, the god of love, pleasure, and lust.

And so you can imagine what revolved around all of that.

The city reflected its devotion to her.

Somehow, though, our buddy Paul, as he always does, plants a church.

I don't know how he does it, but he did it.

He planted a church there as always, and they're being persecuted, they're being drawn away, as always, by false teachers and all that stuff.

It's really hard to have a little band of Christians in uh Corinth, you know, the the with the Greek goddess Aphrodite being the main part of the city there.

And it's really hard for them to keep their little band of Christianity together, obviously.

And in his second letter, where we're gonna be today to that church that has some scholars baffled because it's it seems to be in two parts.

Chapters 1 through 9 is one part, and 10 through 13 seems to be a separate part.

And he writes to re-establish their trust in him.

Hey, you know, we didn't do this for nothing.

There's a reason why we've got to stay strong, you gotta stay the course.

It's important to stay strong and stay solid.

In chapter 8, then we're gonna be in chapter 9, but in chapter 8, Paul begins the discussion of raising support for the poor church in Jerusalem.

And he's sending Titus to Corinth to receive these needed funds that the Jerusalem church needed.

And Paul says, Hey, here's what he says to them in chapter 8.

He says, Hey, the churches in Macedonia, which include uh Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, he said, They were very poor, but very generous.

And he says, I want you to finish what they started.

So in verse 9 of chapter 8, Paul says that Jesus is our example.

He says, Jesus is God in the flesh who gave everything.

He became poor, lived in poverty, so we could be rich in our relationship with his father and have eternal life.

And he says, Paul says, Hey, whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly.

And I love that.

If you give it eagerly.

Now, let's see the importance of this setup for the next chapter, chapter nine, and you'll see where we're going.

Because Paul's going to continue talking about being generous, and he doesn't pull any punches.

All right, look at this, chapter nine.

We're going to read the first 15, we're going to read the whole chapter, and then we'll take it apart and look at a couple of verses from there.

Okay?

So it starts here.

Paul's talking.

He says, There's no need for me to write to you about this service, that's giving that the churches did uh to the Lord's people.

For I know your eagerness to help, and I've been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you and Achaia were ready to give, and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.

But I'm sending the brothers, that would be Titus and them, in order to that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready as I said you would be.

For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to say anything about you, would be ashamed of having been so confident.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised.

He pulls no punches.

Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

Remember this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

This is good right here.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

As it is written, you have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever.

Now he supplies he who supplies sow to the seer, so he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous on every occasion.

And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

That's important right there.

The service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but it's also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Look what he says.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

There's a lot of words there, right?

A lot of words, but did you get it?

It's not hard to understand.

It's pretty, pretty logical, pretty self-explanatory.

We have a lot to learn here, right?

And on what Paul calls the ministry of giving.

What a great way to say it.

The ministry of giving.

He said the same thing in chapter 8.

Last week we learned quite clearly that God calls all of us to the ministry of giving.

And we talk about the fact that if we are to put God first in our life, which is what we talked about, if we are to understand that He owns everything anyway, and we are simply stewards, and if we are to understand that giving to the work of the Lord through the church is obedience that equals both sacrifice and reward, then we must by faith be willing to commit to it.

Why?

So that Paul said, so that God's work can be done.

That's what Paul is saying to the Corinthians about the poor believers in Jerusalem.

Are you getting this?

You know what I love about Paul's description of giving?

We need to get this.

This is the main thing right here.

What I love about his description of giving, he doesn't just talk about dollars, he talks about people.

Are you getting that?

Why does he talk about people?

Because money is never really the point.

Let me say that again.

Money is never really the point.

People are the point.

Get that.

If you get nothing else today, get that.

Money is not the point.

People are the point.

I told you clearly last week that we rarely talk about money around here.

I mean, there's so many people that think that that's all the church talks about.

We rarely talk about money around here.

And and and uh this is more than just talking about money.

This is talking about people, isn't it?

Don't miss this.

It's more than talking about money.

Now, let's look at a couple of verses from this.

Let's just tear it apart just a little bit.

Go back to verse six.

Here's what Paul says.

Look at this.

Remember this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

That's a good text right there.

Number one, giving is a heart issue.

Giving is a heart issue.

I told you that we don't talk much about money around here, but um I make no apologies for sharing what the Word of God has to say.

No apologies.

Giving is a heart issue.

We know that Paul is talking to an agrarian society for the most part, so they would understand the farmer illustration that he when he talks about sowing and reaping.

There are any farmers in here?

Anybody grow up on a farm?

Anyone a farmer?

Anyone plant gardens?

Yes, I know some people that have planted some really successful gardens, right?

That's good.

Planting or farming is a cause and effect endeavor, right?

You reap what you sow.

If you don't put any seed in the ground, you're not gonna get anything, right?

The amount of your harvest is directly related to how much you plant.

Am I right?

We know that.

Don't read into this what's not there, okay?

Paul's not saying give God$100 and you'll reap$200.

No, we don't we don't do the prosperity gospel around here.

He's not saying that.

That's not generosity, that's gambling with God.

Paul is saying that when you sow generously, God produces a harvest.

But the harvest isn't necessarily financial.

That's where we mess up.

Sometimes the harvest of sowing is uh it's it's it's it's changed lives, it's meeting the needs of someone.

Sometimes it's deeper trust in God, sometimes it's simply joy.

Do you ever feel good when you give somebody something?

Or is it just me, right?

Paul says that each of you must decide in your own heart how much you will give.

It's not only a personal issue, each of you, it's personal, each of you.

It's also a heart issue, right?

It's a heart issue.

What did he say?

What did he say?

God loves a cheerful giver, right?

Don't give under, don't give reluctantly.

Don't you don't, you know, God loves or under compulsion, God loves a cheerful giver, right?

And this is motive.

What is your motive?

I told you over the last few weeks that we cling to our stuff, don't we?

We like stuff.

I like stuff.

Let's connect the farmer then with a heart issue, okay?

Motive, and we don't work with me here.

Motive makes no difference to the farmer.

Motive.

Let me tell you what what I mean by that.

The farmer will reap what he sows, whether he does it for money, whether he does it just to have some extra cucumbers laying around, whether he does it for pride to impress his neighbors, whether he does it to feed his family, the the motive makes no difference.

He'll reap what he sows.

But as author Warren Wearsby says, not so with the Christian.

Our giving must come from a glad heart.

God loves a cheerful giver, and the condition of our heart, the condition of our heart, our motive, is what matters.

It's a condition of our heart.

Like last week, I told you about Connie, the lady that brought me a guitar to our small group, and she was so excited to give me this guitar, and I was so excited to get a guitar, you know, so there's that.

She was excited to bring me a guitar, and then I used it in ministry for for several years until we moved, and then our youth, I told you our youth department at the church needed a guitar, and I gave it to them, and I was so happy that they could use it because I had more than one, and I was so happy that they could use it.

I told you this story last week.

And then what happened?

It came back to me.

I wasn't expecting that.

I thought that I gave it to them, that was it, and they they brought it back, gave it back to me, said, Here, we have our own guitar now.

We would like for you to have this back.

I never dreamed in a million years the gifts would come back.

To me, Proverbs 11:24 says this give freely and become more wealthy, be stingy and lose everything.

Proverbs 11:24

This is my favorite part of the verse right here.

The generous will prosper.

Right here.

Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Next time somebody blesses you with something, send them a little note.

Say, those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

I love that.

Does that mean money?

Maybe not.

Maybe not.

Does that mean a sense of accomplishment and the feeling of helping others?

Absolutely.

Do you know that I just alluded to this a minute ago, but that MRI brain studies have shown that giving activates the pleasure centers in the brain.

They did a real test on this.

The study shows that helping others helps us be happier, healthier, and more productive.

That's crazy.

Tell me when you're able to bless somebody in some way, you don't feel good about it in your heart.

Tell me you don't.

Of course you do.

You feel blessed that you're able to bless somebody else.

So, what do we do with this?

We check our hearts, we check our motives.

Now, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand.

Are you stingy?

Are you generous?

Fearful?

Are you in bondage to the what ifs?

What if we need that money for what if we need a new dishwasher like I do?

What if we need this?

What if we need that?

We can't do that.

What if we need what are you in bondage to the what-ifs waiting for doomsday to happen?

Each of us must answer those questions for ourselves.

And I and I bet your wheels are turning.

Look at this.

Verse 8 and 9.

Paul says this God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor.

Their righteousness endures forever.

If you have a Bible and a pencil, you're a pen there, all things at all times, having all that you need, underline the alls.

They're there for a reason.

Do we trust God to provide?

That's tough, isn't it?

Do they still do the publisher's clearing house?

I don't think they do, but you could win eight thousand dollars a week for life.

I mean, who wouldn't want to win that, right?

Does that mean God's gonna let you win the publisher's clearing house$8,000 a week for life?

Maybe, but maybe not.

Remember last week I said that obedience equals sacrifice and reward.

So it's both.

And then in those two verses that I just read, Paul quotes uh Psalm 112, verse 9 giving equals forever enduring righteousness.

Psalms 112:9

Man, Paul is telling us here, God is sufficient.

And when I say reward, right?

Reward, I'm not necessarily talking about God putting more money in your bank account.

We we gotta get over that.

We gotta mis forget that.

Sometimes God's reward is provision.

Sometimes God's reward is joy.

Sometimes it's seeing someone's life change.

That means a lot.

Sometimes it's simply knowing that you are a part of what God is doing.

I quote the Brothers around here every now and then, right?

Look to see where the Lord is working and join him in that work.

Hope we're getting this.

This is good stuff.

Proverbs 3 goes on.

This is from the New Living Translation.

It says this Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek His will and all you do, and He will show you which path to take.

How many of you have seen that verse before?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways.

Acknowledge him, right?

And he will direct your paths.

You know, the NIV version of that.

I think of missionaries when I think about trusting the Lord with all your heart.

I was uh I was thinking of uh um Jess and Corey Heiss from our church.

They were missionaries and um they they sold everything and left everything and packed up their kids and moved to Paraguay.

It's like, who does that?

Anybody in?

Who wants to go to Paraguay today?

Who wants to sell your house and go to Paraguay?

Come on.

Who does they had to learn the language first?

I mean, like, who does that?

And they did all this for the sake of the gospel so that others would know Jesus.

And that's one of the things that we do here.

We support missionaries like Corey and Jess.

They're doing the work around the world that we can't do, most of whom left everything and stepped out in faith.

That is an example of the harvest.

Look at this, verse 11.

Paul goes on.

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.

And through us, your generosity will result in thanks, giving to God.

That is so important.

The service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

That is so good.

Number three, giving meets a need.

Just talked about the missionaries trusting God.

One time I had an opportunity to um uh work for a company that installed audio and visual equipment in churches.

And they said, What do you want your salary to be?

And I said, Well, you know, I would need to make this much money or whatever.

And they said, Okay, your salary can be whatever you want it to be, so just tell us what you want it to be.

But you've got to make the sales to make up for the salary, or you're gonna owe the money back.

You know, so like, wait, I don't know if I want to do that or not.

That's scary for me.

Missionaries trust God to meet their needs, right?

By the generosity of others, and that is scary.

And I love what Paul says, though.

He says, when you give, they will thank God, and the believers in Jerusalem will have their needs met.

And the givers, who are the Corinthians here, will be enriched so that they can always be generous.

It's a win-win situation for them.

So I was thinking about all this.

All week long, I've been laboring over this, you know.

And I can't cover everything, but I was thinking about what your giving does here.

First of all, it supports missionaries, like I just said.

A whole bunch of them.

It also helps pay for all those kids and teenagers to go to camp for kids to learn about Jesus.

And we baptized 13 teens this year, something like that.

Your giving helped feed over 40, 50 families in Cochranton last December.

Your giving built the Motzing Center, which is Cafito in the Irish Theater, which is meeting the need and meeting a need and serving uh hundreds of people in our community and beyond every month.

We pour into our community by supporting the fair and school sports programs and our educators.

You gave$200,000 for the generosity for the generations initiative.

Do you remember that?

For much needed updates and repairs to this facility so that it will serve God and this community long into the future, and it's beautiful.

And now the kitchen's being done.

Have you seen that?

Much needed updating to the kitchen.

Your giving buys diapers and supplies for the nursery and curriculum for the kids we have and CCC kids.

Your giving provides opportunities for dozens of teens to gather here every Sunday evening to build relationships and be encouraged in their faith.

Have you taken a look at our youth ministry lately?

Just wow.

They are killing it.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

And all I can say is praise the Lord for your obedience and your sacrifice to further his work through this church.

This is the harvest.

This is what generosity looks like.

Let's dream a minute.

What else could we do?

What else could we do, right?

We could dream.

Could we help churches that are struggling?

Could we help church plants that are just trying to keep their doors open?

Could we start another campus in another small town that needs the gospel and needs a little church?

How about funding more missionaries?

How about funding more mission trips like the ones we've sent to Florida, we've sent to North Carolina for disaster relief, all of this stuff for the sake of the gospel.

We are short-staffed for the number of people that we have here.

We absolutely need to have another pastor on staff.

So we can dream, right?

All for the sake of the gospel.

And that possibilities are endless.

But guess what?

And hear this.

Hear this.

All of us must be willing to make the commitment, which is the title of the message today.

Check your heart, trust God and jump in.

Check your heart, trust God and jump in.

I don't want to shame anybody.

I said this last week or the week before, not sure which one, or put you on a guilt trip.

But this is your church, and this is not information that's secret by any means.

But our income hasn't changed very much at all.

As our uh uh attendance has has increased.

Twofold, threefold, fourfold.

We're just growing like crazy, but our our giving hasn't really gone up many.

More people means more expenses, right?

More attendance means more expenses, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, that that this puts limits on our ability to do God's work with extreme generosity.

And I want to be very careful here, okay?

Hear me.

I'm not telling you to give because the church needs your money.

That's not it.

Paul doesn't say make people feel guilty until they give.

He says you must decide in your heart.

And I said a minute ago, I'm just telling you what scripture says.

I make no apologies for standing up here and sharing with you what the Word of God says about generosity.

No apologies.

Check your heart, trust God, and ask him what obedience and generosity look like for you.

Now, you got all this in your head so far, right?

With all this in mind, let me give you some practical information to help you get a picture of generosity.

I call this the Main Street giving model because I got it from my old church in Ohio.

And you may have seen this before.

I've shared this before.

See where you fall in this giving model.

Look at this is both our finances and our time, by the way.

It covers both of those.

Look at this.

The first one is where are you in your giving?

I am emerging.

I'm beginning to understand that God has given me everything I have, so I am generous when I choose to be.

That's a starting point.

God looks at the heart.

God looks at the heart.

The second one.

Engaged.

I have chosen to consistently give the tithe as an offering of worship.

And I make time in my life to serve.

It's the second one.

And the next one, growing.

I'm learning to listen for God's leading in ways I can give above the tithe and beyond my normal areas of service.

These down for you there in your in your printout.

You have them.

And the last one, generous.

Others see generosity evidenced throughout my life as I give fully my time and my financial resources.

And there are people in this church that are in all of those levels.

And certainly there are those that are at the very last one, the generous level, giving over and above anything we ever thought.

Giving fully of their time and their financial reasons.

Where are you on this scale?

Every one of us has to check our hearts and think about where we are.

We have to start somewhere with the goal, hopefully, being the fourth one.

How amazing it would be to be generous beyond what you ever thought.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

And it all starts with realizing that we have to put God first, and it's all his anyway.

I don't want you to take that piece of paper home.

I want you to take it home.

Cut off the bottom if you want.

Pray about it.

See what the Lord has to say to you.

Ask God to speak to your heart.

And I shared this one with you last week, Malachi 3.10.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

God invites us to trust him, not to manipulate him, not to make a deal with him, but to trust him.

That's not the point of that text.

We're testing whether God is faithful when we put him first.

Make sense?

Try it.

Go ahead, put God to the test.

Let all this sink in.

Okay, look at number 13, verse 13.

Let's end with this.

This is so good.

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, listen to this.

Others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

Man.

That is so good.

Circle that, underline it, highlight it.

Number four, giving glorifies God.

There it is.

Who doesn't want to do that?

As a result of your ministry of giving, as Paul calls it, God gets the glory.

So just thinking about this.

Speaking about tithing and giving is always a challenge.

And we worry that people will think that we're all about money.

No, we're we're all about the Bible.

And we teach what the Bible says.

We're all about getting the gospel out to as many people as possible.

Generosity isn't about how much you have in your hand.

Listen to this.

It's about how much of your heart belongs to God.

It's not about how much you have in your hand, it's about how much of your heart belongs to God.

Pray with me.

Lord, we we bow our heads before you.

You are so good.

You are so good.

Lord, we do not shy away from the truth of Scripture.

We're not about to do that.

Your word is truth.

Lord, thank you for these words.

Thank you for the encouragement.

We need to be encouraged, and sometimes we need to be reminded.

Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts and our minds to trust you and our lives and our hands to trust you, Lord.

To understand that you've got this.

To understand that the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few, that there is much work to be done to point others to a saving relationship with your Son Jesus Christ.

Lord, it starts there.

If there's anybody in here or watching that doesn't know you as their savior, today you be the day.

That their life has changed for eternity.

Because they admit their need for a savior.

So, Lord, bless these words today.

Help us to not be offended by the word of God.

We can't be.

We've got to trust the truth.

It's the truth.

Your word is truth.

And we thank you for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.