Following Jesus in a world where money is real and powerful

Father, it's hard for us to acknowledge before you

that often we read your Bible, your word,

with a cynical and unbelieving heart.

It's hard for us to acknowledge before you, Father,

that we often do not believe your promises or your word.

It is hard for us to acknowledge before you, Father,

that often we see you as fairly small and fairly distant

and fairly unimportant.

And so many other things so big and so powerful and so present.

Father, we ask that you would do a mighty work of your Holy Spirit

in our hearts and minds and lives this morning.

Father, may you reveal to us what our hearts are really like.

May you convince us, Father, of your truthfulness in your word.

And in all things, Father, grip us with the gospel.

Make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel,

learning to live for your glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

We're going to talk about money.

That dreaded topic.

We're going to talk about money.

We're talking about money not because it's January 8th

and some of you are going to be getting your credit card bills really soon

and you're going to have a gasp, maybe fall on the floor, collapsing in shock,

or see what your line of credits happened to it.

And you're going to be complete.

We're not talking about money.

We preach through books of the Bible.

And 2 Corinthians 9 is a text about money.

And if you're a guest here this morning,

one of the great fears that people who are not Christians have

is that all Christians want to do is try to get your money from you.

They believe that it's common in our culture to believe that Christians are sort of preoccupied with money.

And so I just want to say if you're a seeker

or you're just here just out of some type of curiosity,

if you come with your friend, as I'll explain in a moment,

as long as you come to this church,

you can come week after week after week.

And if you haven't given your life to Jesus, don't give us any money.

Like we don't want any money.

And even after you've come to Jesus,

we're going to let the Holy Spirit work in your lives and all,

but God isn't interested in your money

and we're not really interested in your money.

And so please don't give us any money,

but have lots of cookies and coffee on us

and we're just really glad you're here.

But why on earth would we even talk about money

and are we preoccupied with money?

In fact, I would actually say that Christians,

we're far too timid about talking about money.

Let's just sort of realize why this is important.

How many people have spent money already today?

Raise your hand.

Actually, I bought a coffee.

Okay.

How many people have spent money in the last 24 hours?

How many people think they're going to spend money within the next 24 hours?

How many people either have money on them or they have a credit card,

which if they used, it would actually not be declined.

And if they had a cash card with them,

if they used it, it won't be declined.

How many of you fit in that category here?

Okay.

Just about everybody here has some money on them.

And in fact, the fact that matters is that we live in a world

where money is present.

Money is always around us.

The things that money can buy are always before our eyes.

And we get bill payments, tax payments.

We see prices for things.

We are surrounded completely and utterly by money.

So the simple question is,

what does it mean to follow Jesus in a world where there's money?

Like, isn't that a reasonable question?

In fact, what does it mean to follow Jesus in a world where money is always present

and seems to be so powerful?

Like, given how we spend money all of the time,

and I didn't even go to the other thing.

I mean, some of us here have jobs or have retirement checks and stuff.

Like, many of us will be expecting to receive money.

It's not just putting money out,

but we'll be expecting to receive money over the next month.

In fact, probably most of us here in the room

are expecting to receive money over the next month.

So what does it mean to follow Jesus in a world where money is present?

Money is powerful.

Money often has a very, very great hold in our lives.

Said many of us will be a little bit shocked

when we see our credit card statements

sometime in January after our Christmas spending.

And so the Bible talks about it.

The Bible has lots of things to say about it,

and the Bible, believe it or not, is very wise.

And we're going to be looking at a particular subsection

of talking about following Jesus in a world where there's money.

And it's going to talk about something very countercultural,

but something that on one level, I think,

most people wish that they were.

And it's going to be talking about generosity.

I think most people would like to have lots of money,

and they'd also like to be known as being generous.

Probably very few people in Canada would like to be referred to as cheap or a miser.

In fact, probably if it were, you overheard people in the cubicle.

Most people, if they overheard people a couple of cubicles away talking about you,

and your name picks up, you hear your name and your ears prick up,

and you'll start to listen, and then you hear them saying how you're cheap,

you'd be deeply offended.

So the Bible's going to talk today about this whole issue of generosity.

So it'd be a great help if you got your Bibles and opened them.

But we're not going to be looking first at 2 Corinthians 9.

We're going to look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, one particular verse.

2 Corinthians 8:9

So if you have your Bible, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9.

2 Corinthians 8:9

And you see, one of the things is that all of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9,

it's all talking about money and generosity.

And in a sense, the first few verses of chapter 8 are leading up to this huge statement in verse 9.

And it's, in a sense, in light of verse 9,

that all of the other things that Paul is going to say,

that the Bible is going to say about money,

it's all in light of this profound truth.

And if you're a Christian, it's a really, really, really wonderful verse to memorize.

Maybe many of you have.

And it goes like this.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake he became poor,

so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake he became poor,

so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.

Now, what the Bible is doing here with this verse is it's using riches and poverty sort of the way that we would talk about, you know, if you want to talk about capitalism or rich people, you talk about Bay Street or you talk about Wall Street, you know.

And it's just you use Wall Street. And if you're talking about Wall Street, you know, the Occupy Movement or something like that, it's just talking about capitalism, about rich people, a whole range of different institutions and banks and companies and people and processes are all just encapsulated by this little two word phrase Wall Street.

And the Bible here is just trying to give us a bit of an understanding of who Jesus is and what he did, like who is he and what he did.

And so it's very, very interesting, you know, for, you know, verse nine, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is to know Jesus is to know grace.

That grace is what defines him unmerited, powerful, real favor towards specific people like you and me and me.

And he's the Lord, Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

And he's Jesus and he's Christ. He's the anointed. He's the Messiah.

But everything about him is grace.

Everything about him is grace.

And so it says, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich.

And here the text is basically telling us that before Jesus was born, it's telling us that Jesus existed.

God, the son of God existed before his birth.

And it's trying to describe what it was like for God, the son of God, to be in perfect communion with the father and to be with the angels and to be what we refer to as just in heaven and to be completely and utterly at one at whatever things the Lord and the God have created.

God, Jesus was at peace.

God, the son of God was at peace with them.

And he looked down and he saw our rebellion and he saw that we had gone far from him and he saw that we were poor.

And this is a bit of a counterintuitive thing to us that we are poor.

If you go into, if you read some newspapers on a Saturday, they'll often have little financial checkup types of things.

If you go to a financial advisor, you know, I think it's a Bank of Nova Scotia will tell you that you're richer than you think.

Because if you go to a financial advisor, you know, they'll count up how much your car is worth.

And if you own a house, how much your house or your condo is worth.

And they'll count it all up and they'll show you that you actually have a lot more financial resources than you actually believe you have.

You're richer than you think.

But in a sense, what God says is, how much are you worth five minutes after you die?

And five minutes after you die, you're poor.

Bill Gates and me will have the same financial resources five minutes after our respective death.

And God, the Son of God, looked down.

He was rich.

That's how it's just describing him in unbroken communion with the Father and the created order.

He sees human beings like you and me and our lives are turned away from God.

They're turned in on themselves.

We're each of us seeking to be our own little God.

And all it means is that we're becoming poorer and poorer and poorer, deeper in debt.

So that five minutes after our death, when the bills are all due, that we are completely and unutterably, unspeakably in debt.

And so the text is saying, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor.

That God, the Son of God, sees our need and becoming poor, it's just a way of describing that he takes on our human nature, that he comes and walks amongst us.

And it's saying that everything that he does is for our sake.

Like, here's one of the things about giving gifts, and, you know, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gone through this, but often when we give gifts to other people, we want to get a gift back.

And because we are hard-hearted and selfish, when we get a gift back, we want it to be normally of greater value than what we gave, or at least the same value.

Like, how many of us have given a gift, and then a person gives us a gift back, and we look at it and think, oh, that's not very much.

I spent way more on my gift on them than they spent on me, and we're disappointed.

You see, for many of us, we don't really give gifts.

We're really just embarking on a process whereby we get a gift back that's of greater value.

We really want to give ourselves a gift.

And the Bible here is saying that God, the Son of God, in his dealings with human beings, he's doing nothing for his own sake.

Listen to it again.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.

And it's describing his sinful life, his teaching, his prediction of his death, his death upon the cross.

As Flannery O'Connor famously said, you can't be any poorer than dead.

And his death for us, him, in a sense, paying all of the debts that we have to pay five minutes after we die to Almighty God.

And he pays them all.

And not only does he pay them all, we discover that when we've put our faith and trust in Jesus, that he's paid off all of our debts.

And his riches, his bank account is ours.

And it's just trying to describe it in very simple terms for people who understand a little bit about money, a way to understand the whole mystery of what it is that Jesus has done for us.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, by his poverty, might become rich.

You see, it's because of this that 2 Corinthians 8 says that if you haven't given your life to Jesus, God doesn't actually want your money.

Why? Because he didn't give us a gift so he could get money back.

He doesn't really care about money.

He's already infinitely rich.

He doesn't want money.

He wants you and me to be reconciled to him so he can make us rich.

That's what he wants.

And that's why in 2 Corinthians 8, just before this, it basically says, if you haven't given your life to Jesus, like, don't give money to the church.

Don't give money to God.

Don't give money to the gospel ministry because God actually doesn't want it.

He doesn't want us to think that there's anything that we're in somehow buying God off or paying our dues or keeping the big guy happy or paying our fire insurance or, you know, keeping in his good books or any, like, none of that type of language whatsoever.

It's not what God's heart is.

It's not what God's plan is.

Now, some of you might say, okay, George, that's, you know, interesting.

But isn't it, in fact, often the case that Christians try to shame and embarrass people into giving money?

Like, George, isn't it sometimes the case that, you know, like some churches maybe have seen them, George, where they all come dancing down the aisle to give in their money.

And then everybody claps.

And it's sort of a way so that, okay, there are the people who don't come dancing down the aisle giving in their money.

Or maybe, you know, that there's a type of, don't you think, George, that often churches try to do all this peer pressure to try to have people give or lay on the guilt or lay on the embarrassment?

George doesn't, and I, you know what?

That has happened way too many times.

Can't disagree with that at all.

But you know what?

The Bible actually tells us not to do that.

Like, so if you have your Bible, so that's how 2 Corinthians 9, and we'll see how, in a sense, the Bible says we should never try to embarrass or guilt people into giving money.

Christians shouldn't do that to other Christians.

The church should never do it.

Look how it begins, 2 Corinthians 9, verses 1 to 5.

2 Corinthians 9:1–5

Now it is superfluous, in other words, needless, for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints.

For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia,

saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter,

so that you may be ready as I said you would be.

Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift that you have promised,

so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

In other words, sort of, you know, pulled out of your gripping hands.

So what's this all saying?

Basically, Paul is saying, these people, they had, you know, maybe they had a prayer meeting, they had a worship service,

they all got completely and utterly filled with zeal about the way they were going to give all this money

to their brothers and sisters across ethnic and linguistic lines who were Jewish and living in Jerusalem and Judea,

and they were going to give lots of money to help them in their ministry to the poor

and ministry of spreading the gospel in Jerusalem.

They got all fired up, they made big pledges, and then Paul had to go.

So, and what he's saying here is, I don't want to embarrass you.

I don't want to embarrass you.

I don't want you to be embarrassed, and I don't want you to give money out of embarrassment.

I don't want you to give money out of any type of sense of guilt.

And so I'm taking these very practical steps.

I'm sending a letter.

That's why these guys are here.

You know, it's, you made the promise, and, you know, enthusiasm's all good,

but it's actually when the rubber hits the road, right?

It's when the actual money, you know, gets out of the pocket, and I don't want to embarrass you.

I don't want money to come from any type of motivation of embarrassment or guilt or shaming.

I want to spare you that.

And so it's, you know, so churches that try to embarrass us into giving are actually going against the Bible.

It's not that we have to watch television shows that teach us that this is wrong.

It's we just actually need to listen to God's word that tells us that this is wrong.

And so what Paul is going to do, he's going to talk more about how to give and how to be generous,

and he's going to talk about something in the very next point, which is really surprising,

because it's actually the same sort of thing that coaches say, that professors say, that financial planners say.

It's a very, very simple, common point, and he's going to make the point in terms of how we give and how we live our lives.

I don't know if you noticed it when Ken was reading, but look at verse 6.

The point is this, by the way, it's an aside.

I don't know how successful I was when I was teaching my, you know, my preaching course,

but one of the things in preaching is that preaching should come out of listening to the Bible first.

And when you listen to the Bible, you should try to figure out what the Bible is saying is important.

And sometimes that can be very subtle, and sometimes you need language helps in the Greek or whatever,

because there's something going on in the Greek or the Hebrew that helps you know it's important.

But sometimes the Bible just says, the point is this.

Like, the point is this.

And so here's the point.

It's actually not just verse 6, but the verses that come after it.

And here's what the Bible says.

The point is this.

The word sparingly could also be translated as miserly, like a miser.

So whoever sows like a miser will also reap a miserly or miserly amount.

And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able.

Actually, in the original language, it actually, it sounds more like Yoda.

Able is God.

Able is God to make all grace abound to you,

so that having all sufficiency, in other words,

a type of personal security and your needs are being met

and you know that, you know, relationally,

and you just know that you're cared for and that you're loved.

There's just this basic self-security in God and his providence and in his covenant.

Just this basic security.

So, and able is God to make all grace abound to you,

so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times,

you may abound in every good work.

So here's the first thing, if you could put it up, Andrew.

In both the natural and the supernatural worlds, so to speak,

I reap what I sow.

I mean, the surprising thing to the financial poster,

to, you know, trainers and most professors,

is they wouldn't acknowledge that there's something that's like a gospel movement,

that God's at work in the world.

They wouldn't acknowledge that,

but it's the same God who sends Jesus to be our savior.

It's the same God who created the entire world.

And so whether you're talking about things within his kingdom,

or so-called spiritual or supernatural things,

or whether you're just talking about the way the natural world works,

we reap what we sow.

I mean, you know, basically,

if we spend a lot of quality time on the couch,

getting up from the couch to eat poutine,

well, we'll have bodies that reflect a habit of poutine and couch.

If we, I don't know what Usain Bolt eats,

I don't know, he looks as if he only eats lean chicken breast,

steamed kale and brown rice,

and trains constantly,

well, you're going to look a little bit more like Usain Bolt, right?

You know, for professors, they'll tell students all the time, you know,

if you spend no time in class,

no time in the books,

no time studying,

well, your mark's going to reflect that a little bit, you know?

Or even if you're clever,

you might manage to get the mark,

but you actually still don't know anything,

because you've just been going through the motions.

It's a very, very thing of the world.

And the Bible here is saying

that the same God who's made the natural world

has made this movement,

launched by 2 Corinthians 8-9,

for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake he became poor,

so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

That this is God's movement.

He sees a world at enmity with himself.

He sees a world that's just becoming poorer and poorer and poorer.

He sees people who are becoming lost,

that will be eternally lost.

And he sees that they don't even want a Savior,

but his response is one of grace.

His response is to send a Savior.

And he sends a Savior not by saying,

look how rich and powerful I am.

In a sense, they should already be able to look

at the stars and the planets and the seas

and the oceans and the trees

and the birds and the beasts of the field

and know that God is unimaginably rich.

But he comes and he becomes poor and walks amongst us.

And he becomes poor to the point of dying upon the cross

and bearing the debt that we, in a sense, owe God.

And bestowing upon us his riches

so that we could become rich.

And that's this movement that God has launched in the world.

And God is saying, in this movement,

we've got to sow into that to reap.

We've got to sow into that to reap.

And so if you could put up the next point, Andrew.

If I sow like a miser, I will reap very little.

The gospel shapes me, the gospel shapes me

to sow generously, so as to reap bountifully.

You see, because everything in this text,

there's no commands in the text.

At no point in time in the text does the text say,

so therefore you've got to start giving money.

The text, in a sense, keeps helping us to look,

try to look back at who God is

and what he's done for us in his son.

Because as that grips us, it will shape us.

As that grips us, it will shape us.

Now, some of you might say,

okay, George, you know, you've said in other times

that you became a Christian when you were in grade 12.

Were you instantly generous?

Like, George, are you just up there

trying to lay heavy loads on us?

Like, George, when you were a university student

and when you were just working, you know,

just in stores and you weren't making that much money,

were you generous, George?

George, are you just one of these guys

who goes up there and then tries to lay

a whole pile of burdens on us?

You know, because you're a bit older

and, you know, I don't know,

you maybe, you know, you own a house

and maybe your mortgage is close to being paid

and you have a little bit of financial resources.

And, George, it's really easy for you to stand up there

and just talk about these types of things

and just lay guilt on us.

And so, George, when you became a Christian,

did you start becoming financially generous?

That's a really good question.

And the answer is no.

The answer is no.

Because, you know,

and this is a problem for Christians

for a large part of their lives.

Often the gospel just seems so distant to us, doesn't it?

In fact, actually, Andrew,

if you could put up this big, long list of things,

here's the problem.

And I could, I said we here,

but I, you know, this is,

you can substitute in there,

maybe it would be better if I'd written it with I.

We often live our day-to-day lives

as if money is huge and God is tiny.

George, that credit card bill of mine is huge.

George, my student loan debt is humongous.

George, not just money.

It's not just money per se,

but it's the things that we want.

George, you don't realize,

you know,

if I could only get a car or something like that,

I don't know,

maybe I'd be able to ask a girl out

and, you know,

something like that relationship would work.

You know, George,

if I could only get that extra bit of money,

I could do that rock climbing that I wanted to do

or I could get that professional certification

and that's huge.

And God just seems tiny.

And for so many of us,

I mean, you know,

we have the things, you know,

in our pockets

and we spend money

and we look at how much we're making

and how much other people,

and it seems to many of us

as if money is necessary,

but you know what?

It's as if the gospel,

it's as if God is more like my hobby.

Like money is more like air, George,

but God doesn't seem like real to me,

like he's like air.

And money presses in on me.

But God seems like he can always wait.

And money just is always present.

That's the next one, I think.

I don't know how much you have up there,

but God,

I mean,

he just seems so absent or far away.

And you know what, George?

Or like what it can be in our hearts,

not just George.

Money seems to do real things,

but you know what?

God doesn't.

And you see,

for many of us,

the things of God and the gospel,

it's very distant.

But God is,

but money,

and the things that money

apparently can accomplish,

seems just to be really,

really,

really huge.

And part of the process

of discipleship

is to come face to face,

not just that we've trusted Jesus.

You see,

this is what's so wonderful

about the gospel.

for you know the grace,

for you know the grace,

for you know the grace,

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,

by his poverty,

might become rich.

It doesn't say,

for you know the ability

of our Lord Jesus Christ

to evaluate your financial readiness,

to evaluate when you were going to be able

to be psychologically

and emotionally present with him.

And once you've reached

that stage

of awareness

of him

and disciplines

for him,

and once you've met

his demands

in these areas,

then he'll become poor

so that together

the two of you can become,

no, no, no, no, no, no.

That's why it's grace.

He didn't look down there

and say,

oh, look at George.

George is just so aware

of money

and how big things are

compared to him

and how small things are

compared to my glory.

George is just so ready

for the gospel.

I think I'll come alongside him

and add a little bit of value

to his life.

That's not how it worked.

You know,

he sees a young man

or a young woman

burdened with maybe

senses of unworthiness

and senses of incompleteness

and everything around them

just seems so big

and they realize

that they're poor

and that there's something

more that they need

and they give their lives

to Christ.

And discipleship

is partially,

largely about the Holy Spirit

in conjunction with God's word

convicting us

of these many, many, many, many ways

that we make God small

and make things big

and live as if we are in a world

of really, really big things

with a tiny, distant, powerless God.

But the text begins by saying,

for you know the grace

of our Lord,

God,

Messiah,

Jesus Christ.

Though he was rich,

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you,

through his poverty,

might become rich.

You see,

it's because we have

these beliefs

of money is huge

but God is tiny,

money is necessary

but God is my hobby,

money presses in on me

but God can wait,

money is present

but God is absent,

money does real things

but God does not.

It's because these things

are so unexamined

but powerful

in our hearts

that when we read

and listen to the Bible,

we listen to them

with great cynicism

and disbelief.

You see,

we come together

not to feel guilty

but to say,

Lord,

I am so glad

that you saved me

by what you did

and not by what I did

and Lord,

I have so,

I,

Lord,

grip me with this gospel,

grip me with 2 Corinthians 8-9,

grip me with this,

help me to understand

that this is the rock solid,

rock bottom,

transcendent,

shining,

beautiful,

deeply,

thoroughly,

complete truth

about who I am

and the world

that I live in.

Father,

grip me with this gospel

and as this gospel

grips us,

it changes,

it starts to shape

how we live.

See,

that's what the Bible

is doing here

and it's not giving us

a whole pile

of new commands,

things to wear us down

and make us guilty,

it's trying to wake us up

and shine the light

of the beauty

of God's word

as to the world

that we live in

and who God is

and what our eternal destiny is.

So,

listen to it again

from verse 6 on.

The point is this,

whoever sows sparingly

will also reap sparingly

and whoever sows bountifully

will also reap bountifully.

In a sense,

the Bible is saying

that's just the way

the world works.

Well,

I shouldn't work

in my movement as well.

Each one must give

as he has decided

in his heart.

God's waiting for us

to make a decision

in our heart.

Not to be impulsive,

not just to be haphazard,

not to be motivated

out of guilt,

but in a sense

to be motivated

by the beauty

of the gospel.

That the gospel

not only starts

to give us

a bit of a ground

that this is

my father's world

and I will have times

when I will have

to call out to God

for help

and his wisdom

and his provision

in my finances

and his order

in my finances,

but there's one thing

I know beyond

everything out

that everything else

that nothing will stop

God loving me.

He has given me

his son,

Jesus Christ,

and one second

after I die,

I have the riches

of God.

For all eternity.

And nothing can take

that away from me.

Each one,

verse 7,

must give as he has decided

in his heart,

not reluctantly

or under compulsion,

for God loves

a cheerful giver.

And God is able

to make all the grace

abound to you.

Why?

For you know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you

through his poverty

might become rich.

That's why it says

in verse 8,

and God is able

to make all grace

abound to you

so that having

all sufficiency,

being secure

in 2 Corinthians 8,

9,

being secure

in the fact

that it's God

who makes you rich,

that's reconciled

you to himself,

that nothing

will stop God

from making you rich

for all eternity.

And so God,

verse 8,

is able to make

all grace abound to you

so that having

all sufficiency

in all things

at all times,

you may abound

in every good work

as it is written.

And here it's

describing God.

Who is God?

He is distributed freely.

He is given

to the poor.

His righteousness

endures forever.

In other words,

his rightness,

fitness,

meekness,

nothing can stop

him being God.

Nothing can bring

his rule as God

to an end.

Nothing can stop it.

Verse 10,

he who supplies

seed to the sower

and bread for food

will supply

and multiply

your seed

for sowing

and increase

the harvest

of your righteousness.

You will be enriched

in every way

to be generous

in every way

which through us

will provide

thanksgiving to God.

for the ministry

of this service

is not only supplying

the needs of the saints

but is also overflowing

in many thanksgivings

to God.

By their approval

of this service,

they will glorify God

because of your submission,

your obedience

that comes

from your confession

of the gospel of Christ

because as you've confessed

the gospel of Christ

and as you confess

the gospel of Christ,

you realize

there's a type of submission

and obedience

that comes

from knowing

that you know

the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you

through his poverty

might become rich

and the generosity

of your contribution

for them

and for all others

while they long

for you

and pray for you

because of their

surpassing grace

of God upon you.

Thanks be to God

for his inexpressible gift.

Thanks be to God

for his inexpressible gift

that you know

the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you

through his poverty

might become rich.

That is a gift

that the greatest poets

and the greatest dancers

and the greatest musicians

and the greatest painters

and the greatest philosophers

and the greatest theologians

can only describe

in the most partial way

because the richness

and the grace

and the mercy

and the beauty

of that grace

and the beauty

and the wisdom

and the justice

of who God is

and the hugeness

of it

defies our ability

to ever capture it

in song

or dance

or word.

His gift

is inexpressible.

It surpasses

our ability

to fully understand it.

We will spend

all eternity

plunging into the depths

of the riches

and the mercy

and the beauty

and the grace

and the justice

and the rightness

and the fitness of God.

Let's just wrap this up.

Andrew,

if you could put up

the big sort of point

God enriches me

so I will be generous

and give freely

so that he gets the glory.

God enriches me

so that I will be generous

and give freely

so that he gets the praise.

And,

you know,

that's what the text

is telling us.

And so there's sort of

just two things

sort of in closing

just to wrap this up.

The first one is

that there's a real call

upon our hearts to pray

if you're all like me.

And we'll put this up here now.

I'll just read it.

We're going to,

Andrew,

after we've done

the practical things

we'll put this slide back up

because I'm going to have

the congregation

pray it with me.

But this is just my attempt.

This will all be on the webpage.

This is my attempt

to try to put this into prayer.

If God has touched

your heart at all,

if you are struggling

with the things

of this world

being really,

really big

and really,

really huge

and really,

really powerful

and God seeming tiny

and distant,

then it's a call for us

to pray,

to call out to God

that we'd be gripped

with the gospel.

I've just tried

to put some words into it.

Lord,

I confess that

I often live my life

as if money is huge

and you are small,

as if money is crucial

and you are my hobby,

as if I must deal

with the demands

of money first

and you,

whenever.

please forgive me

and help me

to die

to these lies.

Please grow in me

a humble,

trusting,

and obedient knowing

that you are big

and money is small,

that your grace

is huge

and everything else

is tiny.

Please make me

a disciple of Jesus

who is gripped

by the gospel

and learning to live

a life of disciplined

generosity

to your glory

and praise.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

For many of us,

that's really

the main heart work

that we have to do

is just to call out

to God in prayer

that you not be,

that God just not

be so distant

that the gospel

grips you.

And then I just have

a few little

practical things

as you pray

that if you're moved

to start actually

trying to be generous,

just three little

practical things.

The first is

give at the front end

of your pay

and not at the back end

of what's left

the day before payday.

You know,

I knew a guy,

he used to come

to the church

and he used to say,

George,

no matter how much money

I spend every week,

I have more money

in the bank

at the end of the week,

at the end of my pay period

than when I began.

And I thought,

well,

it's nice to be

a single man

in a mortgage-free house

with a really,

really well-paying job.

That's not my life.

It's never been my life.

And you know,

I mean,

part of my problems

with being generous

is I would live my life,

I would pay my debts,

and then basically

if there was money left over

after all that is over,

I would be generous with it

and there was never

money left over.

And the way to start

to have disciplined generosity

is you give at the front end

of your pay,

not at the back end

of what's left

the day before paying.

Here's another suggestion.

Give money as regularly

as you receive money.

Goes along with the first point.

Some people have,

because they give

quite generously,

they might move money

instantly into another account

which they only use

to give.

But these are just suggestions.

It's whatever works.

And the third thing

is pray your way

to giving 10%

of your income

to gospel ministry.

The Bible doesn't command

tithing as a rule,

but it's just a rule of thumb.

It's like, you know,

when I went to the hospital

a few years ago,

I had to go through this,

you know,

training thing to visit

even though I'd been visiting

for many years.

And one of the things

is you had to make sure

you washed your hands

long enough.

Wash your hands properly

before you visit,

after every visit

in between visits.

And so you have to

wash your hands properly.

Well, what does

washing your hands properly mean?

Like, you know,

I mean,

I don't want to be gross,

but if you go to,

you know,

washrooms,

public washrooms,

some people

don't wash their hands

at all.

And others,

it's like they put

a little tiny bit of water

on a couple of their fingers

and fling it off like this

and out they go.

Like,

what does washing your hands

properly mean?

And I remember they said,

say the Lord's Prayer slowly.

Our Father,

who art in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Thy kingdom come.

And they said,

if you say it nice and slowly

as you wash your hands,

it's properly.

I thought,

that's,

I like that.

You know,

it's like there's lots

of things in life.

And the Bible here is saying,

you know,

it's so interesting.

The Bible isn't saying

that you have to all become

like Mother Teresa

or you can't seek

to have jobs,

you can't seek

to have promotions,

you can't work.

God enriches us

in different ways.

And some of us,

he's going to really enrich.

And the Bible just gives,

you know,

so what does generous mean?

Well,

try about 10% of your income

to pray your way to that,

to start your way towards that.

But there's no rule.

The basic thing

is that you're gripped

by the gospel,

that you're shaped

by the gospel.

Because you see,

if day by day,

I want to live my life

with Jesus

and I want to walk

through my day

and my life with Jesus

and I'm walking

with the man

who is filled with grace

and you know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake

he became poor

so that you by his poverty

might become rich.

That's who we follow.

That's who our lives

have been saved by,

who are to be molded by.

Andrew,

if you could put the prayer up,

please stand.

Not just Andrew,

everybody.

And,

you know,

the other thing is

if you haven't given

your life to Jesus,

if maybe for the first time

2 Corinthians 8-9

and the gospel

has started to make

some sense to you,

you know what I suggest,

you can say this prayer

that we're going to give you

as a conversion prayer

but you know what

I would just say to you

is just say to God

in your own words,

God,

2 Corinthians 8-9,

that's true

and I'm poor

and I want to receive

the riches

that only Jesus

can give me,

only you can give me

and I want,

just in your own words,

call out to him

in the words of that,

or you can use this prayer

as a conversion prayer

and if God has put it

on your heart,

join with me

in praying this out loud.

Lord,

I confess

that I often

live my life

as if money

is huge

and you are small,

as if money

is crucial

and you are my hobby,

as if I must deal

with the demands

of money first

and you whenever.

Please forgive me

and help me

to die to these lies.

please grow in me

a humble,

trusting,

and obedient knowing

that you are big

and money is small,

that your grace

is huge

and everything else

is tiny.

Please make me

a disciple of Jesus

who is gripped

by the gospel

and learning

to live a life

of disciplined generosity

to your glory

and praise.

In Jesus' name,

amen.

Father,

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon us.

Only you can touch

our hearts.

Only you can bring

the gospel home to us.

Father,

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon us.

Make us disciples

of Jesus,

gripped by the gospel,

living for your glory.

In Jesus' name,

amen.