Excel in Generosity | 2 Corinthians 8:1-7 | 05/10/26

Mark 12:41-44

Mark 12:41–44

And he that is Jesus sat down opposite

the treasury and watched the people

putting money into the offering box.

Many rich people put in large sums and a

poor widow came and put in two small

copper coins which make a penny. And he

called his disciples to him and said to

them, "Truly I say to you, this poor

widow has put in more than all those who

are contributing to the offering box.

For they all contributed out of their

abundance. But she out of her poverty

has put in everything that she had, all

she had to live on."

The only kind of person who can put all

of their money into an offering box is a

person who treasures God way more than

they treasure money. That's the only

kind of person who can do something like

that. This morning, I have the grave

responsibility of talking to you about

one of the most awkward topics in

church. It's not sex.

It's not politics.

It's not adultery like last Mother's

Day.

We're on a roll here.

It's money.

And it's awkward for many reasons. It's

It's really awkward because my salary is

paid by the generous donations of people

in this church, of God's people in this

church. And so, I'm tempted by the love

of money not to offend any of you so as

not to disrupt the church's giving.

I'm tempted to not rock the boat.

It's awkward because finances are so

incredibly private in our culture. We

don't ask what people make. We don't ask

what people spend. We don't ask people

to give away their hard-earned cash.

It feels inappropriate for pastors to

talk about money because it feels self-

serving. Some of you might even be

wondering if I'm just asking the church

to give more so that I can personally

make more. Fortunately, in our church,

it doesn't work that way. your gifts are

given to the general fund and then the

elders decide how to allocate the money.

I thank God that your tithes don't go

directly to me. That would thoroughly

corrupt me.

We know that there have been many

shepherds who have abused their

congregations, who have looked at their

people as people to fleece rather than

people to feed.

And that's why it's awkward. And yet, in

spite of all of that, in spite of all of

the awkwardness, we will be talking

about money today. and for the next five

weeks.

And that's because it's the next text in

front of us. We don't talk about money a

lot from this pulpit, but we talk about

it when it comes up in the text.

No matter how uncomfortable, we preach

the next text. Second Corinthians 8 and9

are some of the New Testament's most

explicit teachings on financial giving

and generosity.

And as I approach these next two

chapters in 2 Corinthians, I'm inspired

what George Whitfields once said. He

said,"I will not be a velvet tonged

preacher. I will not be a velvet tonged

preacher." That means I will not yield

to the temptation to soften the Bible's

teachings for you because it's awkward.

I will not pull the punch. Your elders

did not hire us as pastors in order to

tickle your ears. They chose us to tell

you the truth

even when it hurts,

even when it's a hard truth. And I know

you're ready for this, church. I know

that you're are mature enough to handle

hard truths. I know you're eager to

grow. I know that the last five months

in second Corinthians have prepared you

for this moment.

I know that you're ripe for correction

and you're ripe for challenge.

I know that you're ready to be called to

more. We named 2026 as a year that we

wanted to be challenged and stretched

and grown as a church and as individuals

in our faith. And here we come to the

most challenging part of 2 Corinthians,

the section about your money.

If you remember in 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

6 and 7, we had two different sermons on

how to receive correction.

Two sermons on how to receive

correction. This was Paul preparing the

Corinthian church and West Hills

Community Church for chapters eight and

nine. It was all leading to this. There

was a need for correction.

It's all groundwork for Paul trying to

get the Corinthians ready to receive the

correction, asking him to do something

very, very difficult.

Now, before I get into our text this

morning, let me fill you in on a little

bit of history going on in the

background of our text so that it makes

a little bit more sense. Back in First

Corinthians, at the very end of the

book, in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, Paul

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

started a collection among the

Corinthians, a monetary collection to

try to give money to the church in

Jerusalem that was facing a severe

famine. And so he was asking the

Corinthians to give. And then the

Corinthians and Paul had this huge

falling out. And we've spent most of our

time in second Corinthians talking about

this interpersonal conflict that Paul

had with the Corinthians. But now that

he's kind of resolved that, he's saying,

"Now we got to talk about money again.

We we fixed the relationship. We fixed

the interpersonal conflict. We got to

talk about money again." And so he

returns to this issue of the collection

for the church in Jerusalem. And that's

where our text picks up this morning.

And the main question I want to answer

over the course of the next five weeks,

you can write this down in your fancy

new bulletin on that really nice card

stock paper.

If Christ is our ultimate treasure, what

does that mean for our money? If Christ

is our ultimate treasure, what does that

mean for our money?

Our text this morning is 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8. We'll read verses 1-7. If

you've got your Bibles, go ahead and

turn there. 2 Corinthians chapter 8.

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Starting in verse one, Paul writes, "We

want you to know, brothers, about the

grace of God that has been given among

the churches of Macedonia. For in a

severe test of affliction, their

abundance of joy and their extreme

poverty have overflowed in a wealth of

generosity on their part. For they gave

according to their means, as I can

testify, and beyond their means of their

own accord,

begging us earnestly for the favor of

taking part in the relief of the saints.

And this not as we expected, but they

gave themselves first to the Lord, and

then by the will of God to us.

Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he

had started, so he should complete among

you this act of grace.

But as you excel in everything, in

faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all

earnestness, and in our love for you,

see that you excel in this act of grace

also. This is the word of God.

I want to show you two things from this

text this morning. First, I want to show

you the example of the Macedonians, and

then I want to challenge us. So, first,

Paul begins with an example of the

Macedonian church. In verse one, Paul

mentions the church in the region of

Macedonia. That is the region where the

cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, and

Berea were located. These were the first

churches in the continent of Europe that

Paul planted. So Paul is talking about

the example of churches in these three

cities, but he's not actually really

highlighting the Macedonians themselves.

Like he'll he'll get there. He'll talk

about them a lot, but how he starts is

not actually about the Macedonians so

much as he is highlighting the grace of

God working through the Macedonians.

Read that verse again. Read verse one

again and see what Paul is talking

about. What does he want the Corinthians

to know about the Macedonians or the

grace of God? Verse one. We want you to

know, brothers, about the grace of God.

We want you to know about the grace of

God that has been given among the

churches of Macedonia.

That's his main topic is the grace of

God.

Now, let me define grace for you. Grace

is God's undeserved,

unmarited favor. God's free, voluntary

gift of love, mercy, and power extended

to sinners who deserve judgment, not

kindness. That's grace.

And so when Paul writes to the

Corinthians about the grace of God that

has fallen upon the Macedonians, the

Corinthians were probably surprised, and

we're surprised to read what Paul means

by grace, what this grace that's fallen

on the Macedonians, what that looks like

in real life. The Macedonians were

overflowing with generous giving. And

we, like the Corinthians, are like,

"That's the grace of God that they're

giving all their money away. That's

grace. That doesn't make sense.

We get confused by a statement like that

because our view of money is twisted.

We see a group of people giving

themselves into deeper and deeper

poverty as a bad thing. And Paul says

that's the grace of God at work in their

lives.

We don't see that as God's favor. But

Paul's like, "No, the Macedonians have

received massive favor from God and

they're all giving all their money away.

Isn't that amazing, Corinthians?

To us, that's like someone saying, "Hey,

the the Canadians have found a massive

stroke of good luck." And we're like,

"Oh, yeah. What's that?" Yeah, they're

going to be paying our taxes now. Like,

that doesn't seem like a good thing for

the Canadians. How is that good luck?

It's kind of what Paul's saying here.

He's like, "The Macedonians have had

favor with God. They're giving away

their money. It doesn't doesn't register

for us. We don't calculate money that

way.

And yet you have God's holy word telling

you that the Macedonians received

unmmerited favor from God that resulted

in them giving away their money.

So already in the first verse we have

our first correction as Americans.

God's idea of money is radically

different than yours. It's radically

different than yours.

Whose view is correct?

You know the answer to that. God's view

is always correct.

when our view contradicts God's, he's

right. And so, West Hills, this is our

first challenge that we have to

recognize that we don't see money

correctly.

We have a we have an incorrect view of

money. It might be completely backwards

and upside down and opposite of the way

that God views money.

Because if you don't recognize that

first, nothing will change in your

generosity.

When God calls a people to give their

money away, he says that's his grace.

That's his mercy. That's his favor.

That's his blessing upon that people.

And we think, "No, that person is

cursed. They're getting more and more

poor.

It's the one who receives all the money

that's been blessed. It's the recipient

of the gift that he has been gracious

to." We see people giving the their

wealth away as loss and God says, "No,

it's gain."

We think it's more blessed to receive

than to give. And God says, "No, it's

more blessed to give than to receive."

Do you see how our minds are backwards?

We think about this the wrong way. So,

church, our first task, if we would be

corrected, is to acknowledge that most

of us think about money completely the

opposite of how God thinks about it. But

let's keep moving through our text.

There's more here.

Paul says more about these Macedonians.

He said in verse one that they received

the grace of God. Now what did that look

like? Verse two. For in a severe test of

affliction, their abundance of joy and

their extreme poverty have overflowed in

a wealth of generosity on their part.

The Macedane Macedonians gave even

though they were extremely poor. This is

kind of a slap in the face to the

Corinthians.

The Corinthians were one of the most

powerful, influential, wealthiest

churches in one of the the wealthiest

regions of the Roman Empire. They were

the Silicon Valley of the Roman Empire.

And the Macedonians were like rural

Mississippi, like very different

economically,

very different educationally.

And yet the Macedonians far exceeded the

Corinthians in generosity.

Why? Why would poor people give more

money away than wealthy people?

What empowers that kind of generosity?

Well, Paul shows why they outgave the

Corinthians. He gives two explanations.

First, the Macedonians outgave the

Corinthians because the Macedonians had

an abundance of not money, joy. They had

an abundance of joy.

Verse two, again, in a severe test of

affliction, their abundance of joy and

their extreme poverty have overflowed in

a wealth of generosity.

Unhappy people often struggle to give

financially because they mistakenly

believe that money is the key to their

happiness. So, they can't let go of it.

I need this if I'm going to be happy. I

need this. I'm going to buy the thing

that's going to make me happy. I can't

let this go. I can't give it away.

They feel the need to keep their money

to solve their lack of happiness, making

generosity impossible.

In contrast, truly joyful people have

found contentment outside of wealth,

realizing that money doesn't create

happiness, and so they're free to give.

And those with an abundance of joy can

give abundantly.

Do you see the correlation?

The Macedonians,

they got it. The Corinthians, they

didn't get it yet.

Money doesn't equate to happiness. It

does not equate to happiness. The reason

an individual or a group of people can't

give their money away is because they

think that more of it will make them

truly happy. But true happiness,

contentment, and satisfaction is found

in God alone. And if you find it there,

it means you don't need the money to

make you happy, content, or joyful. And

you can be free to give it away.

Now, you do need money for some things

in this life. You do need money, but you

don't hoard it because you know it's not

going to make you happy.

And that's the first key to the

Macedonian's generosity. This also

brings up my first application. If

you're struggling to be generous, if

like you think, man, I would love to be

a generous person. I'm just not. I I

can't get there.

If you're struggling to be generous,

could it be that you are looking for

money to make you happy instead of God?

Just I need you to ask yourselves that

diagnostic question. Am I looking to

money to make me happy? Or am I looking

to the things that money can buy to make

me happy? Or am I content with God? If

you can fix the joy problem, then you

have a hope of fixing the generosity

problem.

So the first reason the impoverished

Macedonians could outgive the wealthy

Corinthians was because they had a deep

sense of joy in God and a deep

satisfaction with God. They didn't need

money to make them happy. Money wasn't

their treasure. Christ was so they could

give money away. Here's the second

reason they could outgive the

Corinthians. The Macedonians gave

sacrificially.

We see this in verse three. For they

gave according to their means, as I can

testify, and beyond their means, of

their own accord.

Beyond their means. Three things worth

noting in this verse. They gave

according to their means, beyond their

means, and of their own accord. Three

things that we should pay attention to.

Let me show you something really cool

about each of these phrases. First, they

gave according to their means. This is

an Old Testament idea found in the book

of Moses in Moses's writings that we

call the law. And when the Israelites

were bringing their sacrifices and their

offerings to the priest, they were

required to bring a a good gift

according to their means. That's where

that phrase comes comes from. So a

wealthy family was required to bring a

pure, spotless, valuable lamb as an

offering to the priesthood and for the

the sacrifices.

But a poor person had to give according

to their means, which was obviously less

than a wealthy person. So they could

bring a turtle dove, something of lesser

value.

So even in the Old Testament law, it was

required that people often offer a

portion of their wealth relative to how

much they had. In fact, the Old

Testament put a number on it. God asked

them to give 10% of all of their income

back to the priesthood for the

maintenance of the priesthood in the

temple. So if the Macedonians were

giving money relative to their income,

that would have been totally

satisfactory. That would have been like

normal. But what did they do? Notice the

second phrase of verse three. They gave

beyond their means.

They went further. This is like the poor

family who was only required to bring

two turtle doves, but instead they

brought the whole lamb.

Not only did they give what would have

been expected of them as poor people,

they gave more than that. Now think

about this. When a person gives beyond

their means, that by definition means

that they are hurting themselves.

Right? If somebody gives beyond their

means, they are by definition hurting

themselves. When you give beyond your

means, beyond what your means would

dictate, you're hurting yourself for the

sake of someone else.

You are necessarily going without so

that others can have.

Imagine how much money would be given if

wealthy people gave beyond their means

to the point where it hurts.

Imagine how much would be given to the

kingdom of God if all wealthy Christians

gave beyond their means.

I think this is what Paul was talking

about in verse two when he said in a

severe test of affliction. Paul was

saying that not only were the

Macedonians suffering persecution from

the world, in addition to suffering

persecution, they also hurt themselves

by overgiving by being so generous.

They gave sacrificially.

And then there is this third phrase in

this verse. They they did this of their

own accord. They did this of their own

free will.

This means that they were not coerced.

They were not manipulated to it.

Paul didn't like lock the doors of the

church and pass the basket 17 times

until it was full.

He didn't do that.

No. Verse four says that they begged

Paul to take more money. Meaning that he

was telling them to stop.

Stop hurting yourselves. Macedonian

Macedonians, they had to beg him to

receive more.

We see that in verse four where it says,

"Begging us earnestly for the favor, the

favor of taking part in the relief of

the saints." Do you know what that word

favor is in Greek? It's karice. Grace,

the same word used in verse one. When

the grace of God came upon the

Macedonians and resulted in their

generosity, they wanted to participate

in the grace. They wanted to be players

in the grace, not sit on the bench. They

wanted to join in with the grace of God

that was at work in the world and around

the world in the churches.

They were desperate for a role to play

in God's grace to other believers. That

fuels generosity. Church, when you're so

desperate to play a part in God's

kingdom, it fuels your generosity.

Stingy people don't do that.

They're not desperate to play a part in

the grace of God. They're happy to sit

on the bench and watch other people

give.

But people who love the grace of God,

people who depend on the grace of God,

people who have been forgiven much and

therefore love much. They want to

participate in the grace of God at work

in the world. They're desperate for that

grace and therefore they're desperate to

play a role in distributing that grace.

They counted it. The Macedonians counted

it the highest honor to be able to give

themselves broke for the sake of the

church of Jerusalem. They felt

privileged to be able to play some small

part in God's work.

This reminds me of a woman in our church

and she would be mortified if I named

her. So, I won't do that.

But this woman, one of our members, is

in the lowest income bracket in our

church. She's one of the poorest people

here.

She came to me a few months ago with an

envelope with $1,000 in it and she said,

"Can you give this to the poorest people

in our church?" I said, "You can't give

that to me. You're the poorest person.

You can't give this to me. You're the

poorest person." And she begged me to

take it and distribute it to those less

fortunate. And after begging me and

after me trying to refuse, I finally

said, "Okay, I will." And you know what?

That wasn't the first time she did that.

I tell you, in Jesus's eyes, the way

that Jesus does math, that woman has

outgiven all of us combined.

She sees it as a privilege to give

beyond her means to play a part in the

grace of God for other believers.

The Macedonians overflowed with

generosity.

And how does someone get to that place

where they're overflowing? Because I

think a lot of us want to be there. We

actually probably wish we could be like

this, but we can't get ourselves there.

If we were to give sacrificially, it

wouldn't be joyful. And if we were to

give joyfully, it wouldn't be

sacrificial, meaning it wouldn't be very

much.

That's where most of us find ourselves.

And so, how do you give like the

Macedonians both joyfully and

sacrificially?

Well, there are two things that you

need. First you need to receive

something and then you need to give

something.

First we'll talk about what you need to

receive.

There's a famous verse John 3:16.

John 3:16

God so loved the world that he gave. He

gave his only begotten son so that

whoever believes in him will not perish

but have everlasting life. You have a

giving God.

a father who gives who delights to give

good gifts to his children. And the

greatest gift he ever gave was Jesus

Christ, his treasured possession. And he

gave him away.

He gave him to you and to me. God is a

giving God. He not only gives you money

and wealth and a house and a roof. He

gives you all these things, but he also

gave up Christ. He gave you his only son

so that you could be forgiven of much.

He loved the son more than anything in

the world. And yet he joyfully and

sacrificially sent him to become like

us, to become human. And Christ is a

giving savior.

Christ joyfully and sacrificially laid

down on a splintered cross and stretched

out his arms to be pierced to that wood.

The cross was dropped in a hole and

there he suffocated to death. And he did

it so that you could be forgiven of your

sins. He did it so that you don't have

to go to hell.

He did it so that you could live with

him forever in his kingdom. He did it so

that anyone who receives him will

receive everlasting life along with him.

He gave He gave He gave everything.

He gave everything for you and he gave

everything to you.

He gave you the most valuable treasure

in the universe,

himself.

He gave you himself.

And so what do you receive in order to

be a joyful and sacrificial giver? What

must you receive? You must receive

Christ. You must receive the grace of

God. That's the first step in becoming a

joyful and sacrificial giver.

You receive the grace and the

forgiveness that he offers you. You

can't earn it. You can't buy it. You can

only open your hands and open your heart

and open your mind and simply receive

it. It's free.

So that's what you receive. God gave his

son. You receive him. Now what do you

give? What do you give in order to

become a

joyful and sacrificial giver?

You give your life.

You give your whole life. You give your

life to God. And you give your life to

God's people, the church.

I'm not making this up. Look at what the

Macedonians did in verse 5. And this not

as we expected, but they gave themselves

first to the Lord and then by the will

of God to us.

This is what it means to be a Christian.

A Christian is someone who has given

themselves to God and to his people.

This is what the Macedonians give did.

They gave themselves to God. than they

gave themselves to Paul and his

companions, to the church in Jerusalem

and to the church around the world. Now,

if you're not a Christian here this

morning, if you're not a Christian here

this morning, this is the only part of

the sermon that actually applies to you

because I don't want you to give your

money. If you're not a Christian, that's

not the application for you giving your

that's not that's not for you. The only

application for you if you're not a

Christian is give your life to God.

He gave Christ to you. Now give yourself

to Christ.

That's all that's all I'm asking you to

do today. And that will change

everything. But that's a really good

starting place.

Don't give your money to God. He doesn't

need it. Don't give your money to the

church.

Give your life to Christ.

This is the key to generosity. You give

yourself away. You acknowledge, I don't

belong to myself. I belong to God. I

belong to God's people.

And therefore, because I don't belong to

myself, my money isn't my money. It's

God's money because I am God's person.

I have been entrusted with this money to

bless his people and to play a role in

his grace in the world.

So that is the example of the

Macedonians. They were joyful and

sacrificial in their giving because they

had received the grace of God and

therefore wanted to give themselves away

to God in his church. Now, what about

us? I want to spend the rest of our time

looking at Paul's challenge to West

Hills.

Paul straight up points at the

Macedonians and tell the Corinth tells

the Corinthians, "Be like them. Be like

the Macedonians."

Look at the last two verses in our text,

verses 6 and 7.

Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he

had started, so he should complete among

you this act of grace. Paul is saying

that Titus was the one who started the

collection among the Corinthians. And

now that all the interpersonal stuff is

worked out, he wants Titus to continue

with the collection. Let's keep going in

verse 7. But as you excel in everything,

in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in

all earnestness, and in our love for

you, see that you excel in this act of

grace also.

Paul's like, look, Corinthians, you guys

are good at so many things. You're like

the most talented church out there.

You've got the most resources. You've

got the most money. You've got the most

spiritual gifts.

You have strong faith. You're not in

danger of falling away anymore. You can

articulate the doctrines of the faith.

You have so many eloquent preachers. You

know your theology.

You love us and we love you.

You have so many things going for you as

a church.

Don't you feel like you could be talking

to West Hills?

I feel like he could be talking to us.

In fact, the Holy Spirit is talking to

West Hills.

The Holy Spirit had Paul write this down

so that Christians 2,000 years later

meeting on a hill would read these words

from God to you.

Excel in this grace also.

The act of giving joyfully and

sacrificially is that act of grace that

they were to excel in. And so the

challenge for us West Hills, the

challenge stated directly from the Holy

Bible

from God himself as he moved Paul to

write to the Corinthians and therefore

to all subsequent Christians of every

subsequent church ever. You're excelling

in so many things. Excel in this act of

grace also.

That's Paul's challenge. That's Paul's

word to you. That's God's word to you

this morning. Excel in this act of grace

also. So, how do we practically do this?

What do we do with a text like this? Do

we just pass the offering plate and then

sing a song and go home? It's not what

we're going to do today. Actually,

some of you are already like the

Macedonians. Now, I don't have access to

your giving records, and I don't want

access to your giving records, but

Pastor David Frederick has access to

your giving records because he's the

executive pastor. And so I'm continually

told by David, you would be shocked at

who the most generous people in our

church are. It would just shock you.

Some of you are on a single fixed income

and you're far outgiving those who are

far wealthier than you. You know who you

are. I don't, but you do.

What I can confidently say to you who

are like the Macedonians already, what I

can say to you from this text is that

you are playing a huge role in the grace

of God to this world. A huge role. And I

am so proud that you're in this church.

In Jesus's way of doing math,

you are giving far more than you even

realize you're giving. It doesn't feel

like a lot to you. It feels like a

joyful gift that you're giving, but in

Jesus's way of doing math, it is

profound. You're giving more than anyone

else.

Now, I don't know how else to say this,

but it's important for you to know this.

So, I'm just going to stick this here in

the sermon. Your leaders are generous

givers. I just think you should know

that.

In case you're ever wondering about

that, part of our investigating a man

for eldership or considering somebody

for a pastor or a community group leader

is we consider their family's giving

record.

We want to know is he desperate to play

a part in the grace of God being worked

out at West Hills. We need men who are

desperate to play that part.

Or does he put his money where his mouth

is? I just needed you to know that

because as we talk about giving this

month, your leaders, you need to know

your leaders lead by example and they

will never tell you this. So I will.

They will never ask you to do something

that they themselves are not willing to

do. And I'm so proud to serve with these

leaders.

So some of you are like the Macedonians,

but some of you are like the

Corinthians.

Maybe you're knowledgeable in the Bible.

You're wealthy compared to the rest of

the world. Even though you don't think

you're wealthy, you have a decent amount

of good theology, you're articulate, but

you don't give or you don't give

generously, and you don't give according

to your means, let alone sacrificially.

Let me share a sad statistic, a couple

of sad statistics with you that I had

David Frederick Frederick run uh this

report on our church last week with zero

names, no names attached.

The total average given by a donor

family in our church is $5,480

per year.

Now, this number is very skewed by some

of the very large one-time gifts that we

get by our exceedingly generous donors.

So, a more accurate way of calculating

is not using average, but median. The

total median given per family donor is

$2,658

per year. And median is a better metric

here because it represents the middle

giver, meaning that half the church

gives more and half the church gives

less. But it's less skewed than the ve

than by the very large one-time gifts

than the average is.

Intentional giving. We define

intentional giving

as contributing more than $10,000 in a

year or giving 12 times or more in a

year. Even if it's very little, it's 12

times or more in a year. That's

intentional giving. We have 83

intentional giving families or giving

individuals at West Hills Morgan Hill.

36.09%

of the church falls into the intentional

giving category. There's a lot of room

to grow here.

Assuming our donors roughly reflect the

medium income median income of our area,

which is $195,000 per household, here is

the percentage of your income that is

given to the church. Based on the less

accurate average gift of $5,480

annually, people are giving 2.8% of

their income to West Hills. Based on the

more accurate median gifts of $2,658

annually, people are giving 1.3% of

their income.

The national average churchgoer gives

between two and 3% of their income. Two

to 3% of the wealthiest in the

wealthiest nation in the world. And here

in the wealthiest region of the

wealthiest nation, we give 1.3%.

Now, you might say, Jason, I don't make

close to $195,000 a year. Well, sure, a

lot of us don't, but do your own math.

What do you give? What percentage of

your income do you give? You'll never

give sacrificially if you don't give

intentionally. If you don't plan it, if

you don't budget it, you won't give it.

Do we have a Corinthian problem at West

Hills?

Now, why do I share those stats? Is it

to shame you or to coersse you or to

scold you? Absolutely not.

I love you guys. I love you with my

whole heart. It is the great privilege

of my life to pastor here.

But part of being your pastor is

challenging you.

It's calling you to be to be more,

pleading with you to mature in your

faith. And that means growing in your

generosity.

I want to help you get off the bench and

play a role in God's grace to the world.

The issue is first and foremost our

hearts. The goal here is not to get you

to open your wallets. Actually, it's

not. It's to get you to open your

hearts.

This is why Paul says at the very end of

2 Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 12:14, "I

2 Corinthians 12:14

am not seeking what is yours, but you."

I am not seeking what is yours, but you.

Can I just give you an example of

something that we could do?

We have a building project coming up.

All of the obstacles are cleared out of

the way except for the money needed to

build this building. And we're going to

be starting fundraising for it very

soon. And we're going to be trying to be

building a building that your great

grandkids will hear about Jesus in in

100 years. We're trying to do that.

If everyone in our church gave 10% of

their income, we would be fully funded

immediately.

We wouldn't have to fund raise, just pay

for it out of the general fund.

Think about how many more missionaries

we could support,

what other ministries we could start,

what other things we could do for the

kingdom if we all just gave 10%.

I'm not mandating 10%. That's not in the

new covenant. But I will tell you it was

mandated in the old covenant. Which

covenant is better?

The new covenant is better. We have been

given far more in the new covenant than

the Israelites were given in the old.

Should that not lead us to be more

generous than the impoverished

Israelites who were wandering around in

a wilderness? And we are here in the

Silicon Valley

with all of the comforts of a of an

ancient Pharaoh

with a better covenant, with better

promises.

Should we not be challenged to give more

than the Israelites

and yet we give far less?

Have you received the gift of Christ of

Christ that grace, his forgiveness? If

so, does your generosity reflect that?

Now, I get that this is a process. I

understand that. This was a hard process

for me to learn back when Vanessa and I

had to learn how to be generous when we

first got married. going from giving

nothing or going from giving very little

to 10%. That's a huge leap. That feels

like an impossible leap.

Yet, it's possible.

And I'm not asking anyone to give

anything today. I actually have a very

different kind of request for you today.

When I was a kid, my parents read us

this little book called The Treasure

Principle by Randy Alorn. A lot of you

are familiar with this book. We gave

this book away, I think, 20 years ago at

this church. Right, Debbie.

My parents read us this book when I was

a little kid and it totally transformed

the way that I thought about money and

generosity.

And then a few months ago, Vanessa and I

read that same book to our kids and it

really challenged us as a family and it

convicted us as a couple. We wanted to

be more generous, more invested.

We wanted to play a bigger role in God's

grace in the world and in our church.

And it also promoted some amazing

conversations with our kids. At at the

end of reading this book with our one of

our kids said to us,"I can't wait to get

a job so I can give money away."

It's like, "That's amazing."

What if we cultivated, this is a random

thought, what if we cultivated a

generation that was more generous than

we are? What would the kingdom look like

50 years from now to have our children

outgiving us

in 30 years?

So,

as an extension or as an outflow of

reading this book together, Vanessa and

I bought a copy of this book for every

family here. Um, the ushers are going to

pass them out as you guys leave today.

We didn't want the church to pay for

this. And I'm telling you this for two

reasons. First, because we were actually

convicted that we needed to be more

generous, and so we wanted to buy it

ourselves as a gift for you. And second,

I think you'll actually read it if you

know that we bought it and not just put

it on the church card. Um, I'm hoping

that's the case.

So, here's the request. Take a copy of

The Treasure Principle on the way out

your door. One copy per family or if

you're single, take a copy. If we run

out, we'll get more for next Sunday. But

read The Treasure Principle over the

next five weeks. It's less than a 100

pages long. It's a super easy read.

There's probably an audio book

available. There's six chapters.

Read it with your spouse if you're if

you have a spouse. Read it with your

kids if you have kids.

Talk about it as a family.

Just be receptive.

This is the only request I have for you

today. It's not that you give anything.

I just want you to receive something

today.

I want you to re receive and be

receptive. Pray as you read this book

that God would open your hearts, that he

would challenge you, that he would

change you. Let's pray.