A Generous Life: The Challenge Pastor John Authenreith 08-23-26

Glad you're in here.

Glad you're watching.

Wherever you may happen to be today, it's a great day to be in God's house and be joined together.

And maybe you're looking around and you're seeing lots of these orange shirts.

And you're thinking, Pastor John doesn't have a jacket on today.

I know I have a shirt on.

But I did layer, right?

I did layer with my t-shirt.

So, you know.

But anyway, we have these shirts on.

Why?

Because it's life group launch Sunday this week and next week.

And our shirts say, Ask me about my life group, right?

Because we are, we have a goal.

We have about a hundred people at our church here that are currently in life groups, and we are looking to increase that number to 250 people.

Why?

Because we know being in a life group makes a difference.

It really does.

It makes a difference in our faith, it makes a difference in our relationships, it helps us get to know our church family better, all of these things.

And so we have to step out of our comfort zone sometimes and do something that might be a little scary and uh join a life group.

And what we've given you is a list.

There's a lot of them.

We've given you a list with lots of choices.

There's almost no excuse for not being in a life group this time.

Look at all these options.

There's singles, there's marriage, there's people with kids, there's uh all kinds of different things that you can choose from.

There's women's groups.

So I want you to take a look at this.

We have a table set out, set up in the lobby, another one set up in the gym, which you probably won't be going back there.

But if you do, uh there the sign-up sheets are the same in both locations.

So we've had a good morning so far with our shirts on, and lots of people are signing up for the first service, but we need you guys to beat them in sign-ups, okay?

That's your charge today.

So uh that's something for you to do is to sign up for a life group.

And believe me, you will be glad that you did.

I've been in a life group since about 2001, something like that, and uh not here, but on and off over the last 20-some years, and uh I wouldn't change it for anything.

We're still really good friends with people that we met in our life group in the early 2000s, actually, some of our best friends we met in our life group, the early 2000s.

But you know, I was thinking about something as we continue in our series today, week two of a generous life.

I was thinking about what happens sometimes.

I was uh over in Ohio and one of my friends gave me uh a book.

Um, it had guitar music in it, and it was like some guitar tablature and notes and some sheet music and stuff in this book.

And the book had been had been owned by a guy named Randy Rhodes.

Now, you may have heard of Randy Rhodes before.

He was in Quiet Riot.

If you've everybody heard of Quiet Riot?

To some of you, yes, yes.

And he was also in uh Ozzy Osborne for a while.

Have you heard of Ozzie Osborne?

He was in Ozzy Osborne's band, and he died in a plane crash, by the way.

So this book was really important.

It had been Randy Rhodes' book, and somebody gave it to my buddy, and my buddy wanted to give it to me because he to look at, not to keep, because he wanted me to see uh this cool book from Randy Rhodes.

So I had it for a while, and I played the songs that were in it, and I enjoyed having it, and then it kind of got stuck on a shelf somewhere, and I kind of lost track of it.

And then we had this opportunity to move to a little place called Cockerton, Pennsylvania, and it got put in a box somewhere, who knows by who, and who knows.

I have no idea where this valuable book is to this day.

I think it's in our barn somewhere, so maybe we'll find it.

I don't know at some point, but it's been we've been here almost 10 years, so I haven't found it yet.

So my buddy then, after we moved, he goes, Hey John, this is Judd.

Remember that Randy Rhodes book that I gave you by chance?

And I'm like, Yes, you know, yes, I remember I remember it.

He said, Hey, do you have it?

I'd like to get that back from you.

And I'm like, I'm sorry, I have no idea where it is.

I was so embarrassed and humiliated, and he was very, very, very gracious about it.

He said, No worries.

He said, When you find it, just let me know.

And uh, I'd like to have that back if I could get that back from you.

So someday I'll I will uh get that back to Judd.

I I've got to find it.

It was really important to him.

It's been 10 years now.

I wonder if he even remembers, right?

I don't know, but my friend entrusted to me something that was valuable and I lost it.

Have you ever lost something of somebody else's?

Raise your hand if you think about it.

Oops, right?

I lost something of somebody else.

Has anybody ever lost something of yours that was valuable?

Come on, I know they have.

And uh, yeah, but sometimes you get angry about it, whatever that is.

And uh, and I want to talk to you about just that kind of thing as we continue week two of our series of generous life.

Now, if you were here last week, hopefully you were here last week.

If not, let's do a little review.

Here was our key verse for last week.

It was this one.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

That was from Jesus, right?

Jesus said, Seek God's kingdom.

That's believers living to honor him under his rule on this earth.

Then he said, live righteously, righteousness, right?

Seek righteousness.

That's with solid, godly morals and biblical principles.

Live that way.

Seek him, live that way, seek God's kingdom, and God will take care of you, Jesus said.

He said that we shouldn't spend all of our time and our energy focusing and worrying about the material things in our life.

Yes, we need clothes, we need food, we need a place to live, but the acquisition of stuff and worrying about it shouldn't dominate our life.

And that was the whole point last week.

The acquisition of stuff shouldn't dominate our life.

God is first, and that's the point.

That was the point of the verse that I shared with you.

Today, then we're gonna look at several passages of scripture to get to our today's point, which, as the title of the message says, is this the challenge of a generous life.

That's what's the challenge of a generous life, which really is a lesson in obedience.

Sometimes we all need kicked in the pants a little bit because how soon we forget.

Has anybody ever?

Um, I know many of you have, have you ever taught uh uh somebody else how to drive?

Raise your hand.

You ever teach you ever teach like your kids how to drive?

Yeah, if I can say yikes, I'll say yikes.

So, you know, but we use my car, right?

It's my car, and we put the kids in it, and we let them drive around the parking lot or whatever, back up and down the driveway, and you drive around the parking lot, and finally you have to go out on the street.

And I remember being on the street with one of my sons, and I'm just like, I'm sitting in the passenger side trying to be cool.

He's in my car and he's driving.

It's like, is there a reason why we're veering towards the ditch right now?

Is there a reason?

Or is there a reason why we're heading towards that oncoming semi-truck?

I I don't know, I don't want to really die today, and and uh, you know, this is my car.

And one time my son and I were driving around a parking lot at a mall.

All right, this is you can't make this up.

We got pulled over.

We got pulled over in a mall parking lot by a real cop, not a mall cop, a real cop.

So he's freaking out.

He's only been driving for five minutes and he gets pulled over in a parking lot.

Who does that?

And the cops like, you know, gets up to the window with his hand on his knees, like, can I see your license and registration?

And my son's like, no, I don't know what that is.

You know, I don't have my license or registration yet.

He had a learner's permit, and that's all he had.

And the policeman says, What are you doing here?

We're like, we're just practicing.

And he said, Well, it looked really weird.

You were going in circles and you were stopping and putting on your turn.

So I said, We were just practicing.

And of course, he let us go, but my son was traumatized for life, right?

What's the point here, though?

My that was my car, my possessions, my car, which I let them use.

I let them use it to take their driver's test.

I remember my son, the same one that was traumatized by the policeman pulling him over, takes his driver's test.

And when it's over, the uh state highway patrol guy that administered the test came running in like this and looked at me and went, This close, Dad.

This close.

He he almost failed.

He was this close to failing his test.

He was like glad to get out of the car.

I know that's a shame, right?

But uh I let my kids use my car.

The house that I bought they lived in for free, right?

The utilities I paid for, everything that I worked for and paid for was available to my kids to use and enjoy as well as Donna and I.

And that's how life works, isn't it?

But if you want me to get all spiritual up in here, which I'm gonna do, my kids were subleasing from me because I was leasing from God.

You're thinking, what?

So take out your Bibles.

Let's look at a couple of things and we'll figure this all out together.

We're gonna be in a few places today, so you got to keep up.

Turn to the book of Genesis, chapter one.

We'll start there.

We'll start in Genesis chapter one.

In the beginning, we're gonna not gonna start with verse one, but we're gonna start in chapter one, beginning in verse 27.

Look at this, look at this.

This is pretty pretty standard here.

You've heard this before, maybe.

So verse 27 and chapter one says, So God created mankind in his own image.

In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the of the all the beasts of the earth and the birds in the sky, and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food, and it was so.

God, I love that verse.

God created, God blessed, God gave us life.

God said, I give you plants, I give you fruit, I give you animals, everything that has life.

And God said, rule over all that He made.

And I want to establish this first today as we go get into this.

Number one, everything is God's.

I know you're going, oh John, I know that already, right?

And maybe you don't know that.

Maybe you don't believe that.

I don't know.

But everything is God's.

Now, do you see why I said I was sublising my stuff to my kids?

Because my car, my stuff wasn't and isn't mine to begin with.

Everything, even me, is God's.

Let's establish that some more.

There's verses all over the Bible.

Look at this, Psalm 89 says this.

The heavens are yours, God, and yours also the earth.

You founded the world and all that is in it.

You created the north and the south, Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.

Look at that.

Haggai 2.8 says this the silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty.

And another one from Psalm says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

All who live in it are the Lord's.

Look at that.

I think we get the picture.

Everything is God's.

He created it.

He allows us, because of his grace, because he's a nice guy, right?

He allows us to release everything from him.

Even those who don't believe in him.

And that actually has a name, and it's called common grace.

Think of this.

Last week we established that we must put God first above everything else, right?

If you were here, you might remember that.

Now we're saying that everything is God's anyway.

God must be first, everything is his.

So you have that in here right now?

You have that in your skull to get it started with?

Okay, we gotta start there.

Everything is God's in this.

Number two, I am the manager.

I am the manager.

Put God first from last week.

Everything is God's.

However, we are the managers.

Now, this has a big churchy word attached to it.

This is called stewardship.

Churchy word alert.

Churchy word.

You guys know how I feel about churchy words, right?

There's words we only use in church.

We don't use them every day.

Stewardship.

Hey, we're gonna go do some stewardship together.

You know, we we don't talk about that, but we stewardship is one of our core values, and it says this stewardship for being obedient to God and generous to others.

And we have a verse attached with that, 1 Peter 4 10.

Good one, too.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

What is stewardship?

Stewardship is defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to you.

The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to you.

Now let's get in our main text for the day.

Scooch over to Matthew.

First book of the New Testament.

We're gonna be in chapter 25.

I told you we had a bunch of verses to look at today.

We're not done.

We got more, too.

Matthew 25.

Starting at verse 14.

This is Jesus talking here.

He's teaching as he always does, and he says this to his listeners, Matthew 25, verse 14.

Matthew 25:14

Again, Jesus it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability.

Then he went on his journey.

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gave five gained five more bags.

So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more.

But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five.

Master he said, You entrusted me with five bags of gold.

See, I have gained five more.

His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness.

The man with two bags of gold also came.

Master, he said, You entrusted me with two bags of gold, see, I have gained two more.

His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness.

Then the man who had received one bag of gold came.

Master, he said, I knew knew that you are a hard man, investing harvesting where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

So I was afraid, and I went out and hid your gold in the ground.

See, here is what belongs to you.

And his master replied, You wicked, lazy servant, so you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?

Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.

Whoever does not have, even what they have, will be taken from them.

It's a good story.

You may have heard that before.

It's a good parable.

It's a parable, it's a story to make an illustration, to make a point.

So, what are we talking about here?

If everything belongs to God and we are the managers, then maybe someday the owner is going to ask us, what did you do with what I gave you?

You see, this is more about faithfulness, accountability, and stewardship.

What is stewardship?

Careful and responsible management of something entrusted to us.

We got that right.

This is a challenge, isn't it?

Think about it.

If my house really belongs to God, do I take care of it?

Do I take care of my car if it really belongs to God?

Do I maintain it?

How about my kids?

What about my personal possessions?

What about my job and my health and my money?

Do I spend wisely?

Do I budget?

Do I save?

Do I tithe?

That's good stewardship.

You see where I'm going with this?

I was thinking about what it means to be, you know, about being a good steward.

This has to do with the possession, though.

Somebody showed up at our life group in Texas.

And she walked in the room with a guitar.

And I was thinking, Connie doesn't play the guitar, what's she doing with the guitar?

And she walked over to me and she said, I don't play the guitar, but I have one and I want to give it to you to use for ministry.

Would you take this?

And I'm like, what?

You don't have to give me a guitar, but if anybody knows anything about guitars, that's like, you know, a million dollars.

So I'm like, wow, this is crazy.

And she said, I want you to use it for the work of the Lord.

And so I did.

I took it.

And I used it for our group, our life group.

We had worship.

I used it for stuff at church.

I played on the worship team and I used this guitar.

And I used it for several years until we moved, and we moved to a different church and were there.

And our youth group was meeting on Sunday nights.

They didn't have a guitar.

And uh they were borrowing one from somebody else.

And I said, I have an extra one.

I have one that somebody gave me for ministry, and I'm gonna let you use it and let you have it.

So I gave it to the youth of our church there, and they used it.

They used it for a long time.

I felt like I just had to be a good steward with this guitar, so I couldn't sell it or give it away.

I had more than one, and I let the youth of our church have it.

And apparently I wasn't the owner forever.

I was just the manager for a season.

And eventually I got it back.

Don't ask me how that happened, but it did.

They wound up getting another guitar going in a different direction, and somebody brought it back to me and said, I didn't expect to get it back.

I gave it to them, and they gave it back to me and said, We don't have this, we don't have any use for this anymore.

Thank you so much.

I gave it back.

So I was just the manager for a season and I got it back.

And that's exactly how God works sometimes.

He puts something in our hands because he wants us to enjoy it.

Sometimes he puts something in our hands because he wants us to use it for somebody else, his benefit.

And sometimes he lets us have it for a season and then asks us to let it go, and then sometimes he gives it back.

That's how he operates.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25.

He said, if you use what you've been given well, even more will be given to you.

Does that mean money?

Material things?

Maybe.

But maybe not.

Maybe that's God's blessing coming to you in a million other ways.

Maybe that's in heaven for later on.

Remember what we said last week.

Don't store up your treasures on earth, store them in heaven.

Earn some reward points.

It's like going to a giant eagle.

You know, you get perks.

You want to use your perks now, you want to save them for next time.

Have you ever heard that before, right?

You save your perks for later.

And we've established now, right, that everything is God's.

And we are the managers of all he provides.

You got that.

You agree with that so far?

We've seen it.

We've God's Word approved it to us.

Now let's keep going because what do we do with all of this?

We must be obedient to do what God has called us to do with that He has entrusted us.

And obedience may include two things.

There's more, but there's two things.

Obedience equals sacrifice and reward.

Sacrifice and reward.

That's the challenge.

The name of the message today.

The challenge.

That's the hard part.

What did I say?

Obedient to do what God has called us to do with what He's entrusted us with.

And most of us, I'm sorry, but we don't want to hear this.

I mean, hey, I love my stuff.

Don't you?

You love your stuff.

I know you do.

And sometimes I don't like it when I sense God telling me to give something away or to do something challenging for someone else.

And I know that's hard for all of us to do that.

And the really big challenge, though, to be honest with you, is when it comes to our money.

We hold on to our money pretty tightly.

If you've been around here, I've been here almost 10 years.

You've been around here any amount of time.

I don't talk about money very often.

I don't talk about money very often.

But get this one one author said this.

And maybe I'm missing something.

One author said this.

Look at this.

Jesus talked much about money.

16 of the 38 parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions.

In the Gospels, an amazing one out of 10 verses, 288 in all, deal directly with.

The subject of money.

I'll say yikes again, right?

Ouch! We don't want to hear that.

Ouch.

I'll tell you one thing: you can't come to this church and say all that guy ever talks about is money.

Because I hear that.

We hear that about other churches, right?

You can't say that about this church.

And maybe we should talk about it more.

But what I just shared with you sounds like it's a pretty important topic, isn't it?

Because the love of money has been a problem since it was invented.

Because you gotta have money to get stuff.

But our love of money trumps our devotion to God on many occasions.

Our love of money trumps our devotion to God on many occasions.

Now, let me read a cool story to you from the Old Testament.

Let's read it together, actually.

Book of 2 Chronicles.

How many of you have been in 2 Chronicles lately?

Come on, come on, don't hold back.

Come on.

It's one of those.

It's one of those.

You can read through this book about Solomon's temple.

There's good stuff in here.

The dwelling place for the Lord, Solomon's Temple.

It was built the most, it was built, the most magnificent structure ever.

It was destroyed.

It was rebuilt.

It was closed down.

It was boarded up over and over.

And I love this story because King Hezekiah shows up and he opens it up again.

And the Israelites celebrate Passover there for the first time in forever.

And afterwards, he starts reforming their religious activities, and he tells people to bring a portion of their goods to the priests and the Levites to get the temple up and running and to make sure that they're cared for.

Look at this.

Let's see, 2 Chronicles chapter 31, beginning in verse 5.

2 Chronicles 31 · chapter mention

As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first fruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil, and honey, and all the fields produced.

They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.

The people of Israel and Judah, who lived in the towns of Judah, also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks, and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God.

And they piled them in heaps.

They began doing this in the third month and finished in the seventh month.

When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and blessed his people, Israel.

Hezekiah asked the priest and the Levites about the heaps.

And Azariah, the chief priest from the family of Zadok, answered, Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.

Wow.

What a story.

Did you see where they brought a tithe of all they had?

And it was a large quantity?

All these people, and for months they did it for months.

They were remembering that God ordained tithing in the time of Moses.

And look what happened.

Azariah said that the people brought plenty to eat and plenty to spare, and they, the people, were blessed for it.

What did I say?

Obedience means both sacrifice and reward.

Both sacrifice and reward.

Let's stop for a second.

They're talking about a tithe.

What is a tithe?

Tithe literally means tenth.

It's very specific.

Now, back in the Old Testament, obviously, they didn't have, you know, uh money as currency.

They used stuff.

So they gave a tenth of their stuff, like crops and produce.

We don't do that today.

We generally tithe monetarily.

A tenth, a tithe is a tenth of your income given specifically to the work of the Lord.

The Bible, honestly, the Bible doesn't say that people tithe their time or it doesn't say that.

It was always tangible and always given for the work of the Lord.

The Israelites brought their tithe to the temple.

Now, just look around here, let me tell you.

Do you realize that everything you see here, all the ministry we're able to do, camp for kids, CCC kids, CCC youth, Bible classes, Bible studies, serving Saturdays, supporting missionaries, serving our community, all these things, staffing, paying the light bill, and on and on and on, only happens because people here are willing, obedient stewards of that which God has given them.

And God bless that and thank you for that.

Thank you for that.

It's amazing.

And maybe you don't know this, but the leadership of our church are amazing stewards.

Take great care of that which the Lord allows us to possess.

They'll come into this church.

Great stewards.

We have no debt.

It's very rare for a church to not have debt.

We have no debt.

We haven't had any for a long time.

And as I think about this, I was thinking about how much more we could do if everyone thought about practicing the truths about God's ownership that we just talked about.

And do you know that?

As I said, the Israelites were crazy blessed because of what they did.

And guess what?

God promises blessing from tithing.

Look at this Malachi 3.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, God says.

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 doesn't say, put me to the test very often.

But here he does.

You know, in the Old Testament, the tithe was the tenth, it was part of Israel's covenant system.

And as Christians, we don't live under that Old Testament law, but we embrace the tenth as a practical starting point for giving because it teaches us to put God first and to live generously.

And you see, the bigger question isn't how little can I give and still technically be obedient.

The bigger question is, God, what do you want me to do with what you have entrusted me with?

That's the question.

As in our text from Matthew.

A pastor in Ohio used to say, we don't want something from you.

We want something for you.

We want something for you.

It's a win-win.

The promised blessing that comes from being obedient with the resources God has given us is a win.

Win.

And I want us to understand something here.

You might want to write this down.

Obedience may cost us something, but God never wastes obedience.

God never wastes obedience.

And the reward can include God's blessing, spiritual growth, freedom from materialism, generosity, becoming a part of our character, ministry impact, God's provision, and of course the eternal rewards that we talked about last week.

You see, it's all tied together.

God owns everything.

We are stewards, and obedience equals both sacrifice and reward.

See, stewardship isn't just about money, because everything belongs to God.

But money has a unique ability to reveal who really owns our heart.

Amen.

Who really owns your heart?

Matthew 16, 26.

Jesus again.

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

And what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Man, much to think about today.

There's a case, a case for obedience, a case for looking at our stuff through the lens of our relationship with the Lord.

Through the lens of our relationship with God.

And it starts there.

It starts with your relationship with God.

Do you have a relationship with Jesus?

It starts there first, right?

Is he your Lord and Savior first and foremost?

He can't be Lord of your stuff and your things and your money if he's not Lord of your life.

And if you have not received Jesus as your Savior, may today be the day that you make the decision to make him king.

Right?

Jesus came that we may have life and have that to the full.

Jesus came for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus lived, died, crucified, and rose again that we may have life.

And he did that for you.

And he did that for me.

And if you have questions about that, if you're not sure that if you were to die on your way home today, if you're not sure you'd go to heaven, let's talk about that.

Same with you.

If you're watching at home or watching online, leave us a note.

Let us know if we can answer any questions for you.

So what's the bottom line here?

Everything is God's, I'm the manager, and my job is obedience.

And sometimes obedience requires sacrifice, right?

But God promises that He'll never waste faithful obedience.

Please remember that.

And if God owns everything anyway, then I don't have to cling too tightly to anything.

I can hold what I have with an open hand.

God may tell me to keep it, He may tell me to use it, He may tell me to share it, He may tell me to give it away.

But whatever He asks, my responsibility isn't to argue with the owner.

He's the owner.

My responsibility is to be a faithful manager.

Pray with me.

Lord, we just uh, you are the owner of all things.

Thank you.

Thank you for life.

Thank you for life that you give.

Thank you for uh the blessings that we have in our life.

Sometimes they are too many to even count.

Everybody in here and everybody watching at home got out of bed this morning, right?

And tuned in and came to church, whatever it is, because of how good you are.

Lord, may we never lose sight of stewardship and what that means.

May we stop being people who grab possessions, who just worry about stuff and things and money, but may we be people that worry about building a bigger heaven by sharing Jesus' heart.

Lord, you convict our hearts when it comes to our stuff.

Lord, help us to understand you are the owner which is what you have done for your purposes to make a difference in this world for the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.