Make Room for Generosity - Tithing

Hey everyone, this is Charlie from Encounterchurch Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life and now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

Hey, if we haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name's Mike. I'm one of the senior passes of

Encounterchurch. Hello friends and that means I spend most of my time at Encounter at Prospect

where Jenny and I lead together and we look after that location but with the blessing of

overseeing the team here as well and you guys are an amazing church, right? Amazing leaders.

I could worship in a space like this all day. Like this is beautiful. I get it, the pews but

they're going to help you stay awake because I've got good news. This one's a belter. You're in for

a treat. I'm glad you're sitting down. You're going to be sitting down for a while. At some point you

may need to get up and stretch. That's okay because I do this thing sometimes where I just kind of

preach indefinitely and then people go, do it again. Okay. I mean, I've got time. I've got time.

The reason I tend to try and preach indefinitely despite what my wife sometimes thinks is not

just because I have the microphone. It's very difficult to stop me at that point.

Jordan, that wasn't a challenge by the way.

But it's because sometimes when things need to be said, they need to be said well and thoroughly.

And not every sermon's like that. You can do great sermons in 15, 20 minutes. Absolutely.

Some topics need heavy unpacking. And as we continue on with your series of make room,

this beautiful series of how we make room for God in our lives, today we're looking at making

room for generosity. And so this is going to take a little longer because I will be unpacking a

theology of tithes and offerings. So if you grew up and you have a few issues with the church and

money, this is either your day to get it fixed or feel extremely vindicated. And you can tell me

at the end which one it is. I hope it's the first one. But let's get into the teaching text tonight

from Genesis chapter four verses one to eight. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve.

I just told Emma before that I wouldn't talk about sex in front of her this week.

And here we are. Some things never change. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve.

And she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, with the Lord's help,

I have produced a man. Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up,

Abel became a shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest,

Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift, the best portions

of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept

Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. Why are you so angry? The Lord

asked Cain. Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you do

what refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.

But you must subdue it and be its master. And this is how Cain responded to that idea.

One day Cain suggested to his brother, let's go out into the fields. And while they were in the

field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. This is God's word. Thanks,

better God. Now, I'll just let you in on a secret right up front. I hate talking about money at

church. I hate it. It's probably my least favorite topic, possibly because my income is personally

tied to the concept of money coming from church in some way. So I feel a little awkward about that.

Just rest assured, the result of this sermon do not change my income, which is wonderful for me,

at least. But the problem with me feeling this way is it's totally unbiblical. It is totally

against the wisdom of God as expressed in scripture. Money is constantly talked about in the Bible.

Even more when you consider how often we hear about tithes and offerings that we produce things like

fruit, vegetables, meat, grain, et cetera, it's an agricultural economy. Now, one of our aims

that encounter we call the mission goals is to be Bible fed and spirit led. That means that we

want to be nourished by God's word in the Bible and then led in how to live that out in our lives

through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and God's voice. So if we want to genuinely be a Bible fed

church, we have to be a church that talks about how we use our finances. Here's my core belief.

People generally want to be generous, right? Christians especially want to be generous.

Everybody in the room talk, turn around and look at the dark pink thing on the wall.

Encounter church especially wants to be generous, like it's there on the wall. Generous. It's one

of our four core values. I have never met somebody who has said to me at the end of my days, what I

want to be known for is to being such a cheapskate. That is my aim. At the end of my days, I want

people to go, well, the thing about Mike is he just loved his money and he wouldn't give it to

anybody. What a guy. Nobody wants that. Yet somehow when sin creeps at our door, this is what ends

up happening. So we get scared. We get scared. And so money tends to be one of the three great

pools of sin in our life, sex, money and power. And so what I want to do tonight is speak that

theology of tithes and offerings and hopefully explain it in a way that makes sense both historically

and today. And at the end of the service, you are going to have an opportunity to consider

and pray about what God is asking you to do with your money, which may not be something you've had

an opportunity to do before. But what I really want for you at the end of this message is this,

I want to see you set free from the idol of money. That's my number one aim. My number one aim,

like the beautiful thing about incomes is they don't go up when people give more like it doesn't

change anything. So I have an income that part's done. I'm good guys, but it is good for you to

be set free from the idol of money. That is my aim today. We good so far? Good. Good. Good. Good.

Okay, I'm going to go as rapid fire as I can without speaking gibberish. I'm just going to be on

1.25 speed for like the first bit. So let's just keep going. All right. Yeah. First thing to consider

is the difference between tithes and offerings. First offerings. The word offering in the Bible

is almost indistinguishable from the word sacrifice as gifts set apart for God. There are broadly

five kinds of offerings we see, particularly in the Old Testament. Here they are versus burnt

offerings. They are animal sacrifices that are brought as acts of devotion or atonement. Second

is grain offerings, which is bread or wheat, which are brought largely as acts of devotion. They're

also often gifted to priests. So if you've got a nice sour day, you know, don't be, don't be ashamed

to give it to pastor texts at the end of the service. He'll be all right with it. This peace offerings,

they are cattle largely sacrificed as a thanksgiving for God's blessing. There are sin offerings.

They're designed to purify people from their sin through transfer. So the priest would pray over

an animal and often a goat and the goat would be sent away from the community where it's, which is

where we get the idea of the scapegoat, the person who the blame is on. That's a sin offering. And

the fifth one, the guilt offering, cattle sacrifice to cover the debt of sins after the confession

and repayment of sins. It's really interesting. So that's, that is its own sermon, honestly. There's

a lot we could go into in that, but these offerings were for a number of set times as required.

And for occasional festivals, if you think of them as sounding like rules, I guess so,

but here's the point. Offerings were designed to bring people back into intimate relationship with

God. That was the point of the offerings that wasn't about the system. It was about what the

system helped people to switch their minds back to. It's like when you sit in a church like this,

and we'd say something like, let's turn our eyes back to Jesus. Instinctively, I'm like,

oh, now Jesus isn't there. Like just in case you're wondering, but that's the sort of thing I do

instinctively. That's the point of the offerings. The offering helps people instinctively turn

their eyes back to God. The prophets often corrected Israel's wrong motives around

sacrificial offerings, but the prophets loved and valued sacrificial offerings. The biblical

theologian, Trimper Longman, the third, which is a heck of a name, says this, Jeremiah and Ezekiel

were in fact so positive about sacrificial worship that they looked forward to a time when it would

be reestablished in its pure form. They looked forward to perfect giving. That was like their

dream in the future. Now that is a heart for giving and generosity. And importantly, Jesus

regularly participated in this system. So does that mean that we should do it? No, not really,

because Jesus fulfilled that system. He was the perfect unblemished lamb,

offered up as a sacrifice once and for all to cleanse our sin, remove our guilt and bring us

peace. So we don't need to participate in the sacrificial offering system of the Old Testament.

Instead, what we need, as Paul reminds us in Romans, is to bring our entire lives before the

Lord as an act of worship, holy and pleasing to God. The offering is not what we bring to God

at set times. It is our life. That is the offering on to tithing. The word tithe means 10th. That's

literally what the word means. And often people come up to me and say, how much should I tithe?

If you're meaning that literally, it's in the word. It means a 10th. Tithing in the Old Testament is

seen in a number of places. So for example, Genesis, Genesis 1420, Abraham gives a tithe to the priest,

King Melchizedek. In Hebrews 7, we read that Melchizedek resembles Jesus because he appears in

the Old Testament without a clear history. In Abraham, the greatest patriarch serves him by

offering him a 10th of his takings in war. In Leviticus 27, in much of Leviticus, but especially

chapter 27, we hear God's vision for tithing. This is what we hear. Every tithe of the land,

whether it is the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord.

And every 10th animal from the herd of the flock will be holy to the Lord. That is Israelites,

whatever you have, a 10th of it is to be given to the temple for God. And in Numbers 18, 21,

we read to the Levites, that is the priests or pastors in this context. I've given every tithe

in Israel for an inheritance. In return for their service that they do, their service in the tent

of meeting. That speaks to the function of tithes. But now let's move on to how it relates to worship

and the heart. Proverbs 3, verse 9, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all

Proverbs 3:9

your produce. We'll come back to that word first fruits. But the honor is important. In 2 Chronicles

31, we read about Hezekiah, who is a good king, re-establishing healthy worship of God. And this

is what we read. Verse 5, when the people of Israel heard these requirements, they responded

generously by bringing the first share of their grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the

produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity, a tithe of all they produced. The people

who had moved to Judah from Israel and the people of Judah themselves brought in the tithes of their

cattle, sheep and goats and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God.

And they piled them up in great heaps. They began piling them up in late spring and the heaps

continued to grow until early autumn. That's great. What a summer. Like, so they just skipped summer.

Summer is just giving upon giving upon giving. Summer's coming. I'm just saying.

Nervous laughter. That's okay. When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw these huge piles,

they thanked the Lord and his people Israel. Honor went to God. Honor went to the people.

So in order for Hezekiah to have healthy worship, it required Israel to be generous

with their tithes. Is that good worship and creative pastor, Jared? Very good.

Nehemiah 13, verses 10 to 12 says this. Again, this is about re-establishing the temple and worship

Nehemiah 13:10–12

within the temple. Nehemiah says this. I also found out because the portions for the Levites had not

been given. Each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own

field. Therefore, this is like the worship team. They've gone. We've stopped worshiping because,

you know, we haven't been fed basically. Therefore, I rebuke to the official saying,

why has the house of God been neglected? I gathered the Levites and singers together and

stationed them at their posts. Then all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine and fresh

oil into the storehouses. So Nehemiah makes provision for the worship pastors, which is why

we brought him today. So you can look at him being all impoverished and recognize his need.

Actually, I'll tell you what was quite funny. I was at the gym just before I came. So I just

came to sit out there, came straight here, chucked on a t-shirt and realized one of my favorite

t-shirts has holes in it. I was like, ah, can I? What's the closest? Big W. I thought, you know what?

It's probably not bad in talking about the needs for money for the priests and Levites

to turn up with a shirt with holes in it. So, you know, we're rolling. I'm just living out a

testimony. Tim's dying. Tim's dying. He's like, how am I going to clean this up next way?

Perhaps the most famous Old Testament passage about tithing comes from Malachi.

Right at the end of the Old Testament, chapter three, verses eight to ten,

God speaks to his people. Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. How do we rob you? You ask.

By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions. You're suffering under a curse.

Yet you, the whole nation, are still robbing me. Bring the full tenth, the full tithe, into the

storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way, says the Lord of armies.

See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

Now, the tithe in Malachi was specifically directed to two places, the Levites, again,

that's the priests in the temple and the poor. It's the same here in Encounter Church. I'm not

sure if you know this, but most of the tithes go to staffing and 10% goes out on mission. So we tithe

back out to needy people and that goes into a number of places and we can talk about that

another time. You heard me preach not long ago about the Java project, our mission to Indonesia

and to bless the people there. That's one of the places that that goes. But we want to live out

the same thing we are asking of individuals. We want to live that out as an organization

to give it back out. We often bring in guest speakers to talk about this. Do you know how

often we ask you for money for those guest speakers? We don't. We budget it in. We budget that as part

of our generosity towards the people that are going to come in. It is very, very rare that we

ask for an extra thing, maybe like at Christmas. Christmas is coming up. Often there's something

at Christmas that's a particular like Christmas appeal, but generally speaking, we budget this in.

We want to be wise and thoughtful stewards about how we care for our money, but we're also generous

about that. So it is very clear, very, very clear. I've just made it painfully clear that in ancient

Israel tithing to the temple was both a legal obligation and an act of worship. You had to do

it. So do we need to tithe the way the Israelites did in the Old Testament? No, we don't. We're not

under an old covenant. We don't have to do it that way. And can I tell you something? People

either love this or hate it. They love it if they want to be cheap. And they hate it if they're like,

well, it would be simpler if you could just give us the rule to follow. It's like, yeah,

yeah, Jesus rarely works that way. Very, very rarely. So what does the New Testament say about

giving? Well, this has got to be the most divisive part, because like I just mentioned, I feel like

I always hear that either tithes are an Old Testament idea, or that money is Jesus most

talked about topic. Neither of those are quite true. Money is mentioned more than just about

anything by Jesus, but it's sometimes used as like a figure of speech. He'll talk about money

because he knows it will grab people's attention. So he knows it captures people's hearts. So what

does he actually say about money, tithes and offerings? In Matthew 23, 23, we read this,

the woes to the Pharisees. He says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe

mint and dill and cumin and neglected the weightier matters of the law. Let's just pause here. Have you

ever seen someone tithe cumin? Could you imagine? Like the smell would be incredible, but like

trying to work out an exact 10% and then storing it in a way that you're not short changing people,

that would be astounding. I'm not against it personally. But you've neglected the weightier

matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without

neglecting the others. Jesus makes it clear here, tithing is right to do, but it's the heart behind

tithing. That's what really matters. He's like, oh great, well you've done the tithing, that's great,

but meanwhile you've neglected the poor. It's like you've done by obeying the rules, you're

somehow neglected the most important thing, which is to care for other human beings. In Mark 10,

we hear a rich young man asking Jesus, Jesus, what must I do till we earn eternal life? I imagine this

guy is so earnest. It's a dangerous question. Jesus points him to the commandments and he can

honestly say, I live those out. I actually do that. So Jesus looks at him and loves him, but he knows

his heart. So he offers one final challenge. You lack one thing, go sell all you have and give to

the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. But he was dismayed by this

demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions. Now friends, I want to tell you,

do you know how many people Jesus tells this to? One. One. So you can relax a little bit. If Jesus

is telling you to give all your possessions to the poor, it's possible. Some people have had

that calling in their life. That's effectively the Mother Teresa calling. Mother Teresa was

actually, honestly, she was pretty legalistic about it. People would bring her shoes to wear

and she would look for the worst ones. It's like, honestly, just wear the ones that fit your feet.

They don't feel amazing, but that would probably do better for your long-term service to the poor.

But obviously, Mother Teresa had this conviction on her heart that she had to give all her money

to the poor. And was her impact incredible? Yes, it was. Yes, it was. But most of you, Jesus will

not give you that call. One person gets it. Even, there's a key as the tax collector who does give

half his possessions away. Jesus never tells him to. In fact, all Jesus says was cook me dinner.

Like, he's like, I'm coming to your house, mate. Put it on for me. And so Jesus is like, all right.

And then Jesus comes over for dinner, just kind of hangs out with him. And he's like,

I'm giving half my things away. And Jesus is like, great. It's just the Jesus effect. I'm just around

you. Generosity comes out of it. So what do we take from this? That Jesus knows our hearts better

than we do. And he knows what prevents us from being generous. And he's trying to offer us ways

to do that. And the biggest way, really, just about then anything else is money. It has a hold

over us. And finally, two Corinthians nine seven says this, God's desire is for us to give with

cheerful hearts, not under obligation. Pastor Tim keeps coming to me. He's like, can I put square

readers like just like pocket level, but hidden in the door frames of the people coming in. I'm

like, you really can't like we're gonna have lawsuits. It's like, I'll paint them brown like

yet mate, you can't. I said cheerful hearts. He's like, yeah, yeah. So the New Testament doesn't

ask for 10% like the Old Testament did. The New Testament asked for your heart and your life and

everything, everything. So let's talk about your heart. If that's what God really wants,

throughout all the Bible, God's message is consistent. You can't follow Jesus mostly. He

wants your whole heart. So I want to draw your attention to two important passages to explain

this. The first is the story of Cain and Abel, the world's first murder. As we heard in the teaching

text, Abel gave the best of the best. That's what the first fruits were. Now and Cain simply gave

some of what we had, God disregarded Cain's offering because he gave it out of obligation,

but accepted Abel's offering because it was given out of the heart of worship. Now,

before you get outraged about the idea that God disregarded Cain's offering, let me ask you,

do you enjoy being given gifts where somebody clearly doesn't want to give you the gift?

Like when somebody turns up to a party and they're like, hey, hey, Jazz, hey, congratulations on your

wedding. Here's a gift card. I got it. I got it at Kohl's on the way here. It says it's for teenage

boys, but you can like use rebel sport. I just felt I had to give you a gift. So cool. Cool.

It expires next month, by the way. Like nobody wants that. Like, and don't get me wrong,

I've done that plenty of times, but is that out of like a cheerful heart of desiring to bless

somebody and act of worship? No, it's out of obligation. Did Cain learn from this from God

speaking to him personally and inviting him to give a fresh start? No, he did not. He went and

killed Abel. He, the greed in his heart ate him up inside. This is the stuff that happens to us

when we cannot lay ourselves down and embrace the principle that God is trying to say to us,

that you cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both God and money. It's one of

Jesus' clearest sayings. The second passage is Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount,

and you're going to hear this saying, Matthew chapter six. Don't store up for yourselves treasures on

earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in the steel, but store up for yourselves

treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy. See moths and thieves do not break in

the steel. Wherever your treasure is there the desires of your heart will also be. Verse 24,

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

despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Friends, make no mistake.

When we are following Jesus, the purpose is that he is our master. So when we embrace becoming a

Christian, if this is something that's new or newish to you, it's not a religion that you

participate in on Sundays. It's an entire new way of being where we lay down our lives and we say,

all the ideas and values I had, some of them are good, some of them are bad, they've come from a

variety of places. Now what I want them to do is come from Jesus. My purpose is to become someone

in the image of Jesus, the best and perfect human, the Son of God who has modeled in every way what

it means to be human while also ruling and reigning in heaven on our behalf. That's the vision for us

which means we cannot afford to have another master pulling us away from that into brokenness. If Jesus

is into wholeness and he is, that's a life of wholeness. Following money will lead you to brokenness.

We've got to stop putting our trust in earthly treasures and we know that, we know we shouldn't

impulse by, but do we know that trusting God with our finances is more important than insurance?

Do we know that owning a home is not God's ultimate vision for us in life? Do we know that God's intent

is not for us to live in debt all the time? Do we know that private schooling and international

holidays, two things by the way which I participate in, are not a requirement from God for us?

They're not. Our treasure is found in God and in people not in our possessions. Once again,

you cannot serve God and money. One of them will be your master. So who is it going to be

when you be mastered by God or by money? We've looked at theology, let's get practical. How do

we do this? People often ask me what the best way to give is. I don't really think there's a single

best way, but I'll give you a few tips persistently. So use your direct debit if possible and use an

alarm. Now the reason I say use an alarm is that it's intentional. You know, Sam was talking about

really wisely that when you have different income amounts coming in every month,

that you've automatically got to think about it differently. But many of you won't. You have a set

job, you know exactly how much is coming in. You can do a direct debit, you don't have to think

about it. That's fine. That's still generous. Let me be clear, but I would encourage you to pray over

it, to bless the money, to thank God for what He has given you. It's an opportunity for worship.

Do it privately. I love direct debit in part because it is private. There's no showy donations

into the bucket. Prayerfully, we've talked about that already, inviting God's blessings on your

finances and on the church. And my last tip would be to give 10%. Why 10% after all this

statement about how you don't have to? Because it still seems to be the best wisdom on how much

we should give. Here's why. It's enough to disrupt our greed, but not enough to undermine our safety.

God's vision of the tithe meets our daily bread and our needs. I have yet to meet somebody who

intentionally ignores the 10% idea of tithing and then tithes more by accident. I know some people

who intentionally tithe more. I don't know anyone who unintentionally tithes more. I've never seen

it happen. Just staying practical. How does my family do this? Just giving you one vision. This

is not the right way. This is just a way to help people who are trying to work out how to tithe.

We do 10% before tax. My theory is God gets my money before the government does. Does that really

happen? No, the government takes out tax before I get it. But the principle I'm giving is that I

am working out my money based on gross, not net. I give it to God before I give it to the taxman.

You win me so far? Do you know what that means about my tax return? I keep it all. I keep all

of it. If I get a tax return, I keep it all because I've already tithed it before tax. Otherwise,

I'd be giving an extra one. Jen and I have three separate income streams for different bits and

pieces. We tithe them all. We've been doing this since we had Next to Nothing. We teach our kids to

tithe. We don't tithe income streams from the government. If you're on parental tax benefit

A or B, we do not tithe those. We feel they are slightly separate. Those are not income that

we've earned. Those are incomes that are gifts to bless us. That's how we do it. You may listen

to that and go, I think we should. Great. Go for it. This is not the right way. This is just a way.

In the offering space, have a few compassion kids and some other fairly regular giving and then

just occasional giving as prompted by the Holy Spirit. Again, that's not the right way to do it.

It's just a way to do it if you're trying to work it out. What we do try and do as a family is make

sure we aren't short changing God. The vision of generosity gives us so abundant that we cannot

outgive Him. We can only respond. How do we do it? Practically add encounter church. We've talked

about a couple of things here. We budget for guest speakers. We have a 10% missions budget,

which is budgeted into the budget. We don't ask for more all the time. We're talking about mission.

Our finances, we budget really carefully, stewarded by our treasurer overlord, Josh Brooks. He's a

wonderful treasurer. As of right now, we have a couple of hundred grand in the bank that we could

use now as we need it. We could use that to spend big. Anytime you get, say, Jared or Tim in the

room, they have vision. They have ideas. They have pockets. There have been times where I've

threatened to take away their credit cards or at least limit them. But what if we need that to buy

a building? What if we need that to buy a manse in the Grange area? That's one of my dreams.

There are a lot of things we could do. So we steward that money carefully just because we

have it doesn't mean we use it straight away. It also doesn't mean we hold on to it and refuse to

spend. When we set up Henley, guess what? It costs us some money. So you release that funding because

it needs to happen. What about coffee? We give it away for free? Modeling generosity is a regular

wrestle for our budgeting team every year. We look at it and go, that is a lot of money that we

spend on coffee, especially across two sides. Every year, I and other people consider about

whether we need to put a nominal cost on our coffee, but we want to be generous. We want to model

that. We want to give it away. And if you're a regular part of this church and you drink the

free coffee and you don't give, you're welcome to do that as long as you want to. However,

you may want to ask why. You may want to ask why you feel comfortable taking the coffee,

but not giving to God. That's all. That's the only thing I'm going to say about that.

And of course, our needs, you guys are a church plant and your staffing is covered by grant funding,

Tim and Tex, of three days total between them. They're doing a great job and we've been blessed

with grants and future fund giving that has paid for them, but without an increase in tithing over

the next three years, we can't afford to keep them employed. No chance. Now, this is not why

you should tithe. No offence, Tim. You should tithe because it's good for you. You should tithe

because God blesses you. You should tithe because it defeats the idol of money, but it's

to help you understand what happens when you don't. So let me get to brass tacks, right? This is not

simply an abstract idea. Stats, nerds, this one is for you. Oh, Ash has left the room. I was going

to look right at her for that. All right. Okay. Here's some data for adults who have been to an

encounter Sunday worship service more than three times in the last six months at either prospect

or Henley. We have about 154 adults that you could call encounter home. Loose metric, but yeah,

they don't call another church home. They're in the database and they've attended Sundays

more than twice in the last six months. The median salary in SA is $67,600. Our budgeted tithing is

$204,000, which is great. If just 51 adults tithed, so we were expecting 204,000, we get 154 adults

who call encounter home and call themselves followers of Jesus. If one in three of them tithed,

we would get $344,760. Now, the median number is a good number because a lot of people will get a

lot more and a lot of people get a lot less, but that is a good average. Whereas anyway,

we can talk the math stuff another time, but 344,760, let's say we got that up to 130.

That's a great number. If 130 adults tithed, $878,800. Pretty astonishing. Imagine what we could do

with that. Imagine the kind of staffing you could get with that. Imagine the kind of buildings

you could have. That's great. Let's think a bit bigger. Imagine the people you could reach with

that. What if we use that to staff, not here, but primary school chaplains and high school

chaplains along the coast, putting a Christian presence in every school. What if we use that

to get entrepreneurs who have kingdom vision started up with some seed funding and it becomes

sort of a pay it forward loan. There are a million things you could do with money like that. There

is vision for money like that, but it requires generosity in our hearts. It starts with me.

It starts with you. Now, that would be transformational. I call that encounters generosity

gap towards the house of God. For some of you, you will find this very challenging, but for some,

maybe even offensive. I can understand that. It's not the intent. Let me move to a new point.

This is about blessing and not shame. I really loved the honesty of Sam's giving talk earlier.

It was really, really helpful. Just hear someone express what most of us have felt at some point

in our lives. That tension between I want to be generous and I don't think I can. God, I don't think

I can give this much money. If you're a student or a pensioner, it can be really hard to listen to

this. It can be really hard, especially if you genuinely want to tie the ready and you feel like

every week is a nightmare trying to let go. This is what Jesus wants you to hear. It has never been

about the amount you can give. In Mark chapter 12, verses 41 to 44, this is what we hear.

Mark 12:41–44

Sitting across from the Temple Treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the

Treasury. That word, how, is a specific action. It's not one of those words that changes from

translation to translation. It means Jesus was watching the methodology of how people chose

to give. He was interested in human nature. Many rich people were putting in large sums.

Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning his disciples,

he said to them, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the Treasury than all the

others, for they all gave out of their surplus. But she out of her poverty has put in everything

she had, all she had to live on. Jesus praises the generosity of this widow. He actually praises her

over the generosity of the wealthy. Why? Because 10% from the very rich is not the same as 10%

from the very poor. Now, 10% from the very rich goes further practically, let's be honest,

but 10% from the very poor is much braver spiritually, much braver. It is a much deeper step

of faith. And the thing is globally, when you look at a whole range of statistics, the global

poor are more generous than the global rich. Can I tell you, we started giving and giving 10%

when we had a family of three, well, we gave before that, but we had a family of three on $40,000

a year trying to send one to school, having a second kid. It was a nightmare. And every single week,

we tithed faithfully. And every single week, God turned up with incredible generosity. Sometimes

with anonymous acts of grace from people we had never spoken to and never asked for anything from.

God came through because that's what God does. Every time we take a wise leap of faith for God,

He catches us. Every time we're following His calling in that way. And I also need you to hear

this, I'm not on $44,000 a year anymore, praise God, I have three kids, two of them in private

school, help me. And I find it harder to tithe now. Maybe not tithe, but be generous, because I can

think of all sorts of things I can suddenly afford. When I only had $44,000 a year, it didn't even cross

my mind. Because I just couldn't, it was never going to happen. But now it's like, well, we probably

could afford that second holiday. Why don't we? It's like, well, there's a lot of other good things

you could be giving to instead of doing that. The reason I say this is you are better off

learning to give when you feel like you have little than when you have a lot. It's not only

something that will grow you deeper spiritually. It is something that will really, really bless

the heart of God. It's beautiful. In an area like this, high-hop surprises, high mortgages,

this is what we read in Proverbs 30, verses seven to nine. The writer says this,

So God, I beg two favors from you, let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie.

Second, give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs,

or as Jesus called it, our daily bread. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say,

Who is the Lord? And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name. It is the

wisdom of recognizing we can have too much and we can have too little. And if you do, if you are in

that place where you have truly too little, I would encourage you to consider carefully if 10%

is wise right now. And I know that sounds counterintuitive after everything I've said,

but you may need to consider that carefully and continually bring it before God. What you do want

to do is always bring it before God. I would also encourage you to have a conversation with Tim or

Tex about that and just ask for their prayerfulness and wisdom in that too. That'd be a great thing

to involve them is. So I'm sort of coming towards a close. Nobody wants to live as an

ungenerous person. How do we get there? Well, Andy Stanley has some wise advice to how to get to a

place of generosity towards the church. Number one, priority giving. And they're all peas because

Andy Stanley. Priority giving. Make giving the first thing you do before anything else. It's

an act of worship first. It's like serving your guests first before you eat, right, at your own

home. Serve your guests first. If you don't do that, do that, right. That's a different sermon,

but serve your guests first. Make a conscious choice that God is number one in your life.

Number two, percentage giving. Imagine God gives you $100 bills. He's the owner of all of them.

You ask him what he wants you to do with all 10. They are all his and he says, you can keep nine of

them. That's God's vision for your generosity. When we remember they're like, oh, these are all yours

anyway, God. Okay. He says, give me one back. You can do whatever you want with the rest.

Don't give in volume. Give in percentage. Give 10%. Give an amount that changes with your income,

not a flat amount. People who give in flat amounts tend to not be as generous as they

believe they are or as they actually want to be. People who've given flat amounts often are like,

$100 is generous. It's like, what depends who you're talking to? Like $100 is super generous for a

student if you're Elon Musk, not so much, right? So it really depends. That's why a percentage

giving is much more helpful. Progressive giving. Andy Sandley challenges us to increase in our

giving over time so it remains a spiritual experience. Now, if you're just starting out,

that might mean, if you've never given before and it's something you've always sort of had cold feet

about, which is fair enough, you may want to start actually just like 2% or something. You may need

to start very low, but you offer that to God and go, my ideal with this is to move up Lord.

If you are very, very wealthy and statistically that means if you earn $200 grand or more as a

family or $131 grand as an individual, those are just some rules of thumb. I can tell you where I

got them from later. You can ask yourself, I think is 10% enough. You should ask yourself that question.

It may be that God says, yes, give that other stuff away outside the church, but it may be

that God says to you what he has said to some other incredible faithful saints over the year,

like actually it's time for you to double tie for a bit. It's time for you to do 15% for a stretch.

I know some incredible people who have built churches because of their faithful giving and I

don't mean pastors. The pastors are fine, but it's the people whose hearts are set on God

who said, actually God has convicted me about a 20% tithe or a higher amount. For most of you,

don't worry about it. The point is not the amount, right? The point is coming before God and giving

it all to him. And finally, prompted giving. Sometimes you will simply have the Holy Spirit

prompt you and just listen to that and trust him. Give it away. Give it away. But ask God. Ask God.

You've probably worked very, very hard for whatever money you have. And so it feels hard sometimes

to give it away. But you can trust this church. You have great leadership. We have good financial

stewardship, transparency, big hearts for mission and we invest in people. So you can trust this

church. So here is my ask. Would you go away and pray with your spouse, especially if they're not

yet a Christian and make sure you talk to them about it and come back with your best estimate

of what you will give financially in 2025. This is not like a pledge where you go,

I'm going to give above and beyond. This is just asking you to forecast what you imagine

your giving is. The reason is simple. We want to help us budget and we want to help you think

strategically and prayerfully about your money. That's it. That's really why we're going to give

out these first fruit. In fact, Emma, would you be able to grab those? Just pass them around.

Just grab one. There's a digital version as well that we can send to the link to. I think

you'll find it in your link tree on Encounter Henley or if not, we can get it up pretty soon.

And if you want to fill in the digital, frankly, that's much more convenient for everybody.

But if you are a bit old school and you'd like to fill this out because there's a bit you can tear

off and a bit you can keep to pray over, do that. That'd be great too. This is not a promise. It's

not a pledge. We will not be ringing you up and going, actually, we've just reconciled the accounts.

It's nothing like that. This is just for you to come before God so that you can budget wisely.

We can steward well and it can all be covered in prayer. If you are married to somebody who is

not yet a Christian, please make sure you talk to them before writing anything down on this.

It's very, very important. Similarly, if you're under 18, I don't think there is anyone in the room,

but just in case, please talk to your parents. Don't just make a pledge for what might be their money.

Talk to them. Now, in both of those cases, guess what? This is an opportunity for you to have a

conversation about the importance of worshiping Jesus. How wonderful. Going back to Jesus in

the widow, this is not about the amount of money. Now, as we come to a literal close,

and I think you actually had a quicker job of this than prospect, you're welcome.

Before we need challenging in our pockets, we need challenging in our hearts.

To be a faithful, resilient disciple, and our number one goal for you is to be developed as

a resilient disciple of Jesus, you don't need to be able to tithe. You need to be able to lay down

all of yourself before God. It's not about 10%. God does not ask for 10% of your life.

God does not ask for 10% of your heart. If you do that, you cannot follow Jesus. You can only go

to church at best. Following Jesus requires so much more. It requires all of ourselves. You cannot

take money to the grave with you. You're going to end up following either treasures on earth

or treasures in heaven. The only thing you can take to heaven with you is a life well lived for

Christ and people well invested in for Christ, which is why when it comes to the issue with

your money, you need to let God challenge with you on all of that. You're not going to be able to

live a life that is meaningful and joyful if you're grasping. And for some of you, if you come from a

very poor or a very wealthy background, that's going to be quite difficult. You are going to have

to unlearn some things that you grew up knowing. But the promise of God is freedom. Money will

enslave you. One of the other words that used to be used for money was, Mammon. Mammon was linked

to an ancient Canaanite God who demanded blood sacrifice. Yet without God, he has given blood

sacrifice. Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice. You can't outgive God. He who has given his only

son for us, how much more does he love you? How much more will he bless you? This is what he does.

You cannot outgive God. We began this theological and practical journey in Genesis.

And in Genesis, God generously gives the Garden of Eden, heaven on earth, to Adam and Eve, to care

for and what do they do? They ruin it. Sin enters it. Their own greed enters it. The first thing is

this one thing you can't have and Eve says, I want it. And Adam says, I want it. Greed enters

their life. And God's respond to sin is to take his animals that he is carefully and lovingly made,

sacrifice them, make clothing out of their skin and bless and protect Adam and Eve with them,

and send them out with a mission and an opportunity. They can no longer be in heaven on earth,

but they are still under the hand of blessing of God. And as generation after generation rejects

God and turns to sin, he gives himself. That was Jesus, friends. Jesus is God's ultimate act of

generosity because not only does he live the life we should have lived in holiness and goodness,

he dies the death that you and I deserved, our grasping, our greediness, our selfishness.

Yet in his resurrection, I love this, in his resurrection, Jesus not only defeats death himself,

he raises us up with him, not to call us servants but friends, children of God, heirs of God,

and heirs inherit every good thing he possesses. So here's the thing, Romans 8.32 puts it this way,

he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with

him graciously give us all things, all things. Can you see how ridiculous it is when we're stingy

with our money? I just sometimes when people are like, oh, so we don't have to give 10% like in the

Old Testament, like why is your reaction to try and be stingy towards Jesus? That's not the right

reaction. Something's off in our hearts because the farmer who sows doesn't lose seed.

She gains a crop and that is what we do when we invest in the Lord. We love because God first

loved us and we give because God first gave to us. So I'm going to pray now and I really want to

just invite you into a time of prayer for response. On this beautiful spring afternoon,

just say, God, would you speak to me about my money? If you've had fears with your money,

now is a great time to bring them before God and lay them down. He loves you, he's listening to you.

If you're uncertain about it, bring it to God. If you don't trust him, tell him, he loves you.

He wants to hear it from you.

Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message. If you felt challenged or need prayer,

we would love to hear from you on Instagram, at Encounter Henley. Or if you're interested

in how you can support this ministry, please go to our website, EncounterAdelaide.com.au.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.