"Legacy" Part 3

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

I'm gonna dive into the fourth and final message in this legacy series.

If you haven't been in the room this month, we've been talking about our together legacy.

We've been talking about um, you know, from day one, before we even moved here, we wrote in notes in a prayerful, honoring kind of way, this heartfelt desire that, like, as as God does something through his church in our city, and as Evolved Church settles into what it means to be a part of Jesus' church in Edmonton, should we ever close our doors, would our city miss us?

Could we leave the kind of lasting legacy, the kind of lasting impact where it's not just like a feel-good moment that we attend on Sunday, but a deeper sense of calling and purpose to meet needs, to actually love and serve those who are without, and to continue to set room at the table for those who are desperate for hope and searching for the life that we know can only be found in Jesus.

Jesus the same.

Yesterday, today, and forevermore.

Jesus the same, only Jesus.

And despite the climate of the culture that we currently live in, and the cancel culture that some expressions of Jesus' church have faced in recent years, we will unapologetically declare the enduring relevance of Jesus Christ.

We will continue to figure out ways to resource light into dark places, hope into hopelessness, courage in despair.

Only Jesus can make that possible.

Jesus alone, our Redeemer, our Savior, our King.

How fitting, even just to say that on the first Sunday of Advent, as we like posture our hearts and allow his spirit to redirect our attention on what matters most in our lives.

All the things we're desperately trying to fuel and build and create, and Jesus first, Jesus above all else.

We refuse the kingdom without the right king on the throne, right?

Come on, church.

So what will our legacy be as we follow in the way of Jesus?

We quoted Andy Stanley a few weeks ago.

Jesus is the hope of the world, and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.

We believe that.

We've seen that beautifully in four short years since Evolve launched in this city.

This quote from Rick Warren, we're God's representatives in the world, and we serve the least of these in his name.

Because he loves, we love.

Governments can't love, businesses can't love, but the Church of Jesus can truly love.

Others serve for a variety of reasons, many of them good reasons, but the highest motivation to serve is out of love.

The church, with all of its flaws, is still God's chosen way of getting his work done.

We have the privilege of making the invisible God visible to a hurting world through our service.

What will our legacy be?

Not just in our lifetime, but for the future, for our kids, for our grandkids.

Not just to hear about Jesus, but to surrender to his leadership and live in such a way that they're a credit to the message of Christ Jesus.

That's a kind of legacy I want to leave.

This Dallas Willard quote, as we continue, just a little brief recap.

Churches are not the kingdom of God, but are primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, instrumentalities of presence of the kingdom among us.

They are societies of Jesus.

We're a Jesus society.

We presence the kingdom of God to the world we live in, not just in a room like this, but wherever we scatter to, to our workplaces, to our businesses, to our governments, to our neighbors, to our streets, to our industry, to our education, to our recreation.

We presence his kingdom.

We don't just keep it contained, we bring it with us.

We're going public with this.

And I'm really thankful, as your friend, as your pastor, that Evolve exists as a vehicle to express the hope of Jesus in this city, in our nation, across the world.

We're an outpost, an expression, an instrument of the presence of God's kingdom here in Edmonton.

I love it.

I know, I know.

I know.

Get excited, people.

But uh go jets go, really.

For those watching online, my father-in-law just shouted out a go jets go from the front row.

But we've been in Lethbridge all weekend.

Um pulled into our driveway just before 1 a.m.

this morning.

Good times.

Um, our daughter and some of her friends, um 3A volleyball high school varsity, they made it to provincials.

And uh so proud of those girls and their hard work.

And you know, there's this um there's this term that parents at volleyball shout out when we're about to receive a serve.

They say, sign out, sign out, girls, sign out.

And so I found myself just like getting into it, you know, the opposing teams serving, and I'm like, suck it out, girls, sign it out, sign out, don't know what that means.

And actually went home and had to look it up.

Did you know that that's it's a moot term?

It actually doesn't really mean what it's supposed to mean anymore.

It meant do you remember in volleyball when you could only score a point on a serve?

Do you remember those old rules?

That's not how some of you are like, isn't that still how it works?

No, no, it's not how it still works.

So you would say side out when you were receiving a serve because you needed to like, you know, one good pass, one good pass, come on, right?

Uh one good pass, side out, side out.

It got me thinking about one good pass.

Just one good pass.

In sports, what does it mean to pass?

It's an intentional transfer from one player to another.

It's not accidental.

If it is, we call that a fluke.

Like when you're watching the Jets play.

It's no, it's an intentional transfer.

And and kids, kids' sports, think about it.

Our son Caleb, he plays ball hockey.

And in kids' sports, like our kids have been like soccer and and ball hockey.

Any anybody had kids that played soccer?

Right?

What do we hate in kids' soccer?

Everything.

Somebody said, Wait, who said that?

You said ball hug.

We hate a ball hug, right?

We hate a ball hug in kid's soccer.

That one little child is like just we're like, there's four people and right in front of the just pass the ball and we're gonna score.

My language was intentional.

Pass the ball and we're gonna score.

A pass is an intentional transfer because we believe in us, we believe in team.

And I saw it on the ball hockey court last week.

There's one little guy on the other, and thankfully he wasn't on Caleb's team.

There's one little guy just like great ball handling skills, but just refuses to pass.

Didn't score once, but he tried five times.

And he had teammates wide open.

Just pass already.

Just pass.

And that's the message for the church today.

As we close out this series, if you're brand new in the room, I just want to set your heart at ease.

It's your first time at Evolve, I see you.

You might be here today because you're like searching for something.

You might be here today to just champion a friend.

I see you.

I don't talk about money every Sunday.

And so today isn't about something we need from you.

Okay, just relax.

You're good.

But today, in this final message on Kingdom Legacy and Together, we've been talking about how do we steward our money as Jesus followers.

What is the Holy Spirit poking our hearts to surrender when it comes to surrendering our life to Jesus?

Not just pieces of our life, not just parts of our story.

We refuse the kingdom of heaven without Jesus on the throne of every part of our story.

Share the flipping ball, kid.

Just pass already.

Intentionally transfer so that the whole team wins.

Why?

Because that's who we are.

It's what we do as Jesus followers.

Jesus' church isn't a cycling club or a running club.

It's not an individual sport.

It's a team sport.

You can't remove yourself from family.

If you cut a finger off your body, the finger dies and the body suffers.

We're not meant to isolate.

We're meant to belong to family.

We're meant to recognize that we're called to serve Jesus' church, and that local churches all across our city and around the world today are delivering hope.

We're hope dealers.

To quote Jesus of Nazareth from Matthew 6, your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body.

When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.

But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness.

And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is.

And we unpacked this teaching last week because it's actually, if you read it in context, it's about money.

And I won't go back there today.

I'll just encourage you to do that deep dive on your own from Matthew 6, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaching about money and possessions.

But what he's teaching here is to a multitude, it's to a crowd of people.

What he's saying is not my individual eye, but our collective eye.

What are we focused on?

What are we prioritizing?

What are we valuing together?

Our intentional unified focus and value and priority for the complete surrender of our lives and our hearts to the leadership of Jesus.

Oh.

Whoa, whoa! You can have my heart.

It's one thing to sing it.

But do we invite that kind of like over every piece of our story?

This teaching about um the Sermon on the Mount, the all-time classic Jesus, teaching us not to worry, not to stress out about what you're gonna eat or drink.

And right there is this what you focus on.

If your eye is full of light, your whole life is full of light.

What you focus on, what you value, what you prioritize with your resources, gives way for clarity for your entire life.

Our entire life.

You know, the common statistic given to show how much Jesus emphasized money in his teachings is that 11 of his 39 parables talk about money.

That's a pretty, pretty, pretty good amount.

To add emphasis, it's noted that in those parables, one in every seven verses mentions money.

These are both true, but these stats actually don't tell the whole story.

And I've heard the preachers reference these stats before because they're trying to say Jesus cared about money.

But if you actually study those parables, what you see clearly is that Jesus used money as an example because he cared about your heart.

He cared about your heart.

He cared about your surrender.

He cared about who's on the who's on the throne.

Whose voice is the loudest when you're making decisions?

Is it his?

Or is it our need or our lack?

Jesus used conversations around money more to redirect our hearts towards a kingdom value, the kingdom of heaven priority that we're invited into when we say we're following him.

Money in and of itself need not hold space in our hearts.

It doesn't have to grip us with fear or consume us with priorities.

It's just a tool.

Money is benign.

It's not good or bad, it's just a tool.

It's just a resource.

What we send it to gives it life or gives it death.

But money's benign.

The Bible doesn't say money's evil.

The Bible says loving money is evil.

Jesus uses money as a common example.

Why?

Because we all have it, we all want more, we all stress when we don't have enough.

He uses it as the common denominator because he wants our hearts.

He wants our surrender.

What matters is our heart posture towards it and how we're creating space to be honest about money contending for the throne.

And if we're not careful, we abdicate the throne of our life to a fear of money or a love of money without even trying.

In Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters.

You will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

And that's the whisper and the heart cry of the church today.

Jesus, you can have it all.

You can have my heart.

So when it comes to our obedient response with our finances as Jesus followers, it's clear that Jesus is after our throne.

He's after our focus, our attention, our values, and our hearts.

And that's a quick recap of the last few weeks as we've been sharing vision for 2023, celebrating what we've seen God do in four short years, and just preparing our hearts for a legacy offering today that we've all been taking time to pray about over the last month.

We refuse the kingdom of heaven without King Jesus on the throne, bringing authority and leadership and rule over every piece of our lives, including our money.

So let's close out the series with one more lean in to the voice of King Jesus.

Um, in a in a bizarre parable.

One of the 11 parables that Jesus taught about money.

If you have a Bible, you can turn to Luke chapter 16.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, it's all good.

I see you.

It's on the screen.

You can read right there.

But there it is, Luke chapter 16, starting in verse 1.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

Jesus told this story to his disciples.

That's the first thing I want to point out.

He's intentionally telling a story to those that have followed him.

Okay?

He says, This there was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs.

One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer's money.

So the employer called him in and said, What's this?

I hear about you.

Get your reports in order, because you're gonna be fired.

Ouch.

The manager thought to himself, now what?

My boss has fired me.

I don't have the strength to dig ditches, dig ditches.

He said, pencil pusher, no.

But uh I'm not too proud, or I'm too proud to beg, he says.

So, like, I can't, I can't work hard, I'm not gonna beg.

And here it is.

Ah, I know how to ensure that I'll have plenty of friends who'll give me a home once I'm fired.

Is this a weird story or what?

Yeah.

Ever read this one before?

Thank you, Julia.

No, yeah.

So he invited each person who owed money to his boss, to his employer, to come and discuss the situation.

He says to the first one, How much do you owe my boss?

The man replied, I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.

So the manager says, Take the bill, quickly change it to 400.

Cut it in half.

And how much do you owe my employer?

He asked the next guy.

I owe him a thousand bushels of wheat, was the reply.

Here, take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.

Here's where the story gets really interesting.

The rich man, so the the boss, had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd.

Weird.

And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.

That's us, by the way.

Here's the lesson.

I love it when I read a really weird story in the Bible, and then Jesus quickly goes, Here's actually what I'm trying to say.

Here's the lesson.

Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends.

Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in large ones.

But if you're dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

And if you're untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

And if you are not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other, you will be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

So here's our text for today, and I just want to share a few ideas from this for us to like invite the Holy Spirit to continue to redirect our hearts.

Is that okay?

First one is this this is our together legacy.

Financial generosity impacts eternity.

Luke 6, 19, here's the lesson.

Use your worldly resources to benefit others, make friends, and then when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

The impact we have when we use our worldly resources to benefit others connects right through to eternity.

Right through to the end.

There's worldly wisdom in thinking, planning, and acting long term with our money.

And if you like invest or save, or if you've like figured out how to care for yourself when you get older or care for your kids, I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

But the world talks regularly and often and quickly and passionately about like storing up to take care of me one day.

There's kingdom wisdom in thinking, planning, and acting eternally with our money.

What will I leave so that others can find the hope that I already have?

That's a very different priority.

There's tension there.

M.

Wilcock, in his writing on this passage, talks about the original language for like worldly wealth was unrighteous mammon.

And that's just a way of saying money.

It's a puzzling phrase.

He says, not so much because of the noun, mammon, which is simply Aramaic meaning wealth, but because of the adjective unrighteous.

For money in and of itself is neither good nor bad.

So Ellis suggests that the words mean worldly possessions, that is, possessions characteristic of the unrighteous world that we live in.

So the things in and of themselves are not unrighteous.

The heart posture towards them is where we get into trouble.

In this passage, they refer not only to money, but all of the goods of this world, and indeed to everything that we have here, but shall not be able to take with us into the next life.

We all know that in theory.

You can't take it with you.

But you're still building and striving and working and saving so that you can maybe take it with you.

But you can't.

So is there a heart posture that says kingdom value says, How am I saving and working and building so that other people can trust and follow my King Jesus?

He goes on to write, and this is where it gets good.

They'll put this on the screen.

Although these things, your property, your ability, your time, belong to this life only, says Jesus, yet what will happen to you then, when you pass into that life, will depend on what you are doing with them here and now.

Make sure that your use of them brings you into a fellowship of friends which will survive beyond death.

When we choose kingdom legacy, together legacy, financial generosity impacts eternity.

Luke 12, Jesus says, sell your possessions, give to those in need.

This will store up treasure for you in heaven.

It's not money we're storing up in heaven.

It's the value and the care of other people.

It's a heart for others that we get stored up in heaven.

The purses of heaven never get old or develop holes, Jesus said.

Your treasure will be safe.

No thief can steal it, no moth can destroy it.

Or Matthew 6, 19, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys, where thieves break in and steal.

Store your treasure in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy, thieves do not break in.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.

What this passage isn't saying, it isn't saying don't save, don't prepare for the future.

It's just saying don't store up the value of treasure in what you're saving here and now.

Have your treasure be what you're pouring into for eternity.

Let that be the thing, let that be the most important thing.

This is about our hearts.

Second idea, this is our together legacy.

Be honest and faithful where we are.

Luke 16, our passage, verse 10.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in larger ones.

But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

And all I want to say about this is simply this the myth of one day when is a myth.

Either this is something that we invite the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and settle peace into our hearts surrounding, or we just keep saying, Well, one day when I have enough, then I'll start giving away.

Not one day never comes.

Because Jesus says, Are you faithful where you are right now?

I just have a little Jesus.

All I have is this little bit.

Jesus says, Cool, what are you gonna do with it?

Well, one day I hope to have more, and when I have more, can I be faithful then?

Jesus doesn't work that way.

If you're faithful in little, then you'll it's easy to be faithful in large.

If you're dishonest in little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

The myth of one day is is a myth.

And us saying, okay, God, align my heart.

I know what even even that it hurts and there's tension around it.

I love it.

I feel it in the room.

Pastor's talking about money.

Settle your heart.

My prayer, my constant prayer as we open scripture together is always that his voice would be the loudest in the room.

Number three, this our together legacy, be trustworthy with our finances.

This week we uh emailed out um our 2022 legacy report.

It's the details of like, I'm not asking you to trust Evolve and its board and its overseers blindly.

We've constantly invited questions and deep, deep look.

We sent out a legacy report in in this week's email blast of like, what did we accomplish together?

What did we give towards this year?

What are we dreaming for next year?

We want to be trustworthy with the resources we are stewarding together.

Because this is not an individual conversation, this is an us together family conversation, which is why in verse 11, Jesus says, if you're untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

Hypothetical question that I actually want you to answer quietly in your own heart.

As a church community, if the true riches of heaven is that the Father is seeking and saving those who are lost, drawing every daughter and every son back into relationship with him through the finished work of Jesus.

The true riches of heaven is my neighbor discovers the hope of Jesus.

My father-in-law led a woman in a hotel to the throne of Jesus two days ago.

She was cleaning at his hotel room in Lethbridge, and he paused to see her and speak to her eternal value and share Jesus with her.

That's the true riches of heaven.

Then Jesus says, if you're untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

That's a bit of shots fired.

It means that some people are called to radical financial provision when it comes to Jesus' kingdom.

But that doesn't remove the rest of us from the equation.

It means we're all invited together to steward what we have, to be trustworthy.

Because money is benign.

It's not good, it's not bad, it's just a tool, it's just money.

And Jesus is saying there are worldly riches and that there are heavenly riches.

If I can trust you with this benign, common, neither good nor bad, worldly thing, then truly I can trust you to steward the real thing, heaven's riches.

This no greater love than someone laying down their life for the cause of Jesus, to seek and save those who are lost.

That's at the heart of Jesus.

To go out and to make disciplined followers in the way of Jesus, the Father's desire that nobody should perish, but that everybody should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

True riches.

Peter Drucker, tell me what you value and I might believe you.

Show me your calendar and your bank statement, and I'll show you what you really value.

Regardless of what we say we value, how we consistently allocate our resources is the best indicator of what our eyes are focused on and what's really of value and priority for our hearts.

It's a call for undivided loyalty to the Father.

And not just saying we want his kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven, but being willing to put our money where our mouth is.

Because when it comes to our obedient response with our finances, it's clear that Jesus is after the throne.

He just wants our heart.

Two more and I'm done.

This is our together legacy.

Practice stewardship.

None of it's ours.

How's your heart right now?

Two weeks ago, we we addressed in this room just that anytime the church gathers and opens scripture to talk about money, there is always this like shame that fills the room quickly.

And I just want to like lift the burden of that for a moment.

Just want to invite the Holy Spirit to like, if anybody's feeling shame in the room, that's not what this is about.

This is about family aligning our hearts.

That's all it is.

There's no have to attach to this, except would you pray?

Okay?

Number four, Luke 16, 12.

If you're not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

And in theory, and in our brains, we know that like the earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

And we've all heard skip scriptures like, my father owns cattle on a thousand hills.

We know that like the stuff that flows through our fingertips, God's in it all.

Literally, it's all God's, anyways.

It's all his.

The language of faithfulness and trustworthiness is a deep heart-level poke here, once again.

Jesus refocuses our attention on inward attitudes.

This is important.

What's really going on with your heart?

And the best way I could think this through is can I just talk to all the moms and dads in the room today?

Or the grandmas and the grandpas?

And if you don't have any children of your own yet, you were a child once, so you're still gonna get this.

Have you noticed the difference between a child spending your money versus their own?

Come on, that why would why are we laughing?

So my daughter's like shocked in the front row.

It's okay.

Like, it's okay.

I I just love that like kids when it comes to spending mom and dad's money, I was like, no brainer, that's easy.

Swipe.

Right?

Kids, when it comes to spending their money, it's like, well, maybe I'll wait.

And that's all that God's inviting us into.

He's like, I'm your dad.

It's mine anyways.

Spend it how I'd want you to spend it.

It's mine.

Come on, son.

It's mine anyways.

Come on, daughter.

You don't have to, you don't have to worry anymore.

That was last week.

You don't have to stress about it.

King Jesus on the throne.

Come on, daughter.

Come on, son.

It's mine anyways.

I think about families that do like this long, lengthy years' worth of legal work so that the the philanthropic legacy of family and generational giving can continue through next generation and generation.

It's like grandparents saying to their their sons and daughters and granddaughters and grandsons and great-granddaughters and great sons, I've I've I've curated this because I want to give it away.

Come on, next generation, come on, two generations down, come on, three generations down.

Would you keep telling this story?

Would you keep giving it away as as great-grandpa saw fit?

And God says the same.

This is the stewardship, but it's a heart posture.

Do we believe that it's his?

I'm not asking you to just take my word for it.

Study.

Steward what God's put in your hand.

Trust and faithfulness with money get fleshed out in how we steward the Father's resources together.

And last and final, and we're all done.

This is our together legacy.

Serve God, love God, be devoted to God.

No one can serve two masters, for you'll hate one and love the other, be devoted to one, despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Everything about the world system is an invitation to be enslaved to money.

Everything.

Consumerism, lending, the sin of comparison, Black Friday for Pete's sake.

Version two, version three, version 14 of that piece of tech that we're already enslaved to.

Gather stuff.

These are all indicators of the world's way of living enslaved to money.

So we get to prayerfully consider how to serve God with money.

How to love God with money.

How to live devoted to God with our money.

It's his, anyways.

Here's the lesson use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends.

Then when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in large ones.

This is talking about money, by the way.

You can have our hearts, Jesus.

If you're dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

If you're untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

If you're not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

No one can serve two masters.

You'll hate one and love the other, be devoted to one, despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

And maybe you've believed the lie that you're not enslaved to money.

And all I'm asking you is to do a deep heart dive and say, what do I value first when it comes to giving things away?

Maybe set you free a little bit because it says use your worldly resources to benefit others.

And so sometimes I've heard people say, Pastor, do I have to give to my local church?

And the answer is no.

It's not mine, but like I said, pray.

But don't not give to your local church because you say you want to give to other things, but then you don't actually give to other things.

Because that's the lie I've seen a lot of people.

Because they're afraid to give to their church because they don't trust the church.

35% of Christians don't trust their local church with money.

I don't trust that if I give this to you, I think you're sliding it into your back pocket.

And that's a heart thing.

Well, I'm willing to talk about that.

We create space all the time to talk about that.

But don't stay there.

Don't stay enslaved there.

You can have my heart, Jesus.

All of it, every piece.

And today in community, we choose to posture our hearts in line with the way of Jesus to think eternally with our money, to be honest and faithful with where we're financially at currently, to be trustworthy with our money, to practice stewardship with our money.

It's all his.

And to be lovingly devoted to the Father in service to him with our money.

So as we close this series, we've done a deep dive into the early church.

And rather, rather, rather than give the Holy Spirit room to like speak to our hearts and live surrendered to what God's asking us to do, it's easier to say, I've been hurt before, or this is my opinion about this.

Continue to pray.

Read, read the scriptures that we've been like wrestling through together over the last month.

Go back.

Listen to the podcast or YouTube, wherever you want to go back, but go back.

Keep praying.

And as we dream together for our eternal impact as a church community, what God's done in four short years and what we believe wants to continue to do.

It brings us to a point today, and for closing out 2022, where we're all just saying, God, what can I do to contribute to our together legacy to make a way?

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.