Called to Community: A Generous Community

Father, we thank you so much for your love for us.

We thank you, god, for your grace and mercy.

We ask you, god, to help us to open our hearts to your word this morning as we continue to look at the type of community you call us to be.

In Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.

For those of you who asked, there will be a love offering taken at the end of the service today, but because of Mission Sunday, we wanted to move it towards the end, where everything over budget to go to some special mission work.

That gentleman up there was Jesus Vento.

We call him Chuchi.

Don't ask me what it means.

He's one of our missionaries in Cuba, one of eight that we support.

The lady that was translating was Melissa Vento.

She was our translator.

She's Ventos.

She was our translator.

She's from Cleveland.

She was our translator.

She went in there, fell in love with him, married and moved to Cuba, and so I have to find another translator, I guess because she's down there.

I know that it's been a rough three years for Buckeye fans Because we've lost to that team up north three years in a row.

But oh, don't play the cheating card.

But we did win something that week for Michigan this past year.

So we can give an OHIO because, even though we lost the game, we won the blood drive.

And for three years in a row we won the blood drive by giving more blood, donating more blood than the Michigan team or fans did.

So in the grand scheme of things, that was probably more important in the grand scheme of things than the game, even though I want to stomp our brains out this year.

But.

But but you know, we did.

We did win the blood drive.

And the way we sort of won the blood drive is that whenever michigan would give, you would see the buckeye say, hey, they gave so many points.

Today, let's go out there and get them.

We can't let that team up north, we're gonna get them, let them, let's go get more blood, go get blood.

And they just sort of said you know they gave this much, you go give more.

And it worked, we won the blood drive.

The apostle Paul does sort of the same thing when he's talking about the church at Corinth.

We're going to read that passage in Corinth again.

But here's what Paul sort of says to the church at Corinth he says listen, you need to give to help some of the poor, our brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, who are starving to death because of a famine.

And so in that passage that Steeler read, he says I want you to look at what the church did up in Macedonia.

You notice Macedonia is that team up north, corinth is down south.

And so Paul's writing this letter to the church at Corinth and he's saying you need to understand that you have brothers and sisters that are starving.

And you said you were going to give something, so did I do that, or you?

You did.

And so I thought my twitchy thumb error was going.

But he says you need to give more.

And so they did.

And I want you to understand how amazing that is, how earth shattering that was, because Corinth and Macedonia were Gentile Christians and they were being asked to give money to help starving Jewish Christians.

That was a shock in that culture in that day.

That would be like asking the Ku Klux Klan to give money to the NAACP.

I mean, that's how crazy it was.

And so he tells them I want you to do that.

And so Paul says brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace of God that is given the Macedonian churches In the midst of a very severe trial.

Things were bad in Macedonia.

They were going through some difficult times, but even though their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty, they welled up in rich generosity.

They gave more than they were able to give.

And so Paul talks about the generosity of the Macedonian church.

And we've been talking about what kind of community God calls us to be.

We've talked about God wants us to be a loving community, a sharing community, a praying community, a disciple-making community.

And God wants us, as a church, to be a generous community, a sharing community, a praying community, a disciple-making community.

And God wants us, as a church, to be a generous community, to give and learn how to do that.

And so that's what we're going to talk about today that although these Macedonian Christians were in a severe famine themselves, they were able to help their brothers and sisters.

We're in tough times here too, but yet we have folks in other parts of the country that are our brothers and sisters that are going through difficult times as well.

This morning we have brothers and sisters who walked four miles to get water, and it was dirty drinking water.

This morning we have brothers and sisters who are hiding and worshiping because if the government finds them worshiping, they're going to be killed.

These are the places where we're actively partnering and sharing the gospel.

And so this morning, if we can give a little extra, everything over our budget will go to help some of those special things.

And so we're going to look at how the Macedonians, how we can become a more generous community.

We are a generous community, but I want us to look at how we can be more generous.

And generosity is not just about money, it's about time, it's about giving.

How can we just be more generous in sharing with what we have with others?

So I want us to look at what the Macedonian church did.

In fact, it says in verse four they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service to the Lord's people.

Here's these people who were in trouble themselves, but they're pleading and begging.

So how do we develop that generous community?

First we submit to God.

Submit to God first.

It says that the Macedonians were generous because they gave themselves first of all to the Lord and then, by the will of God, also to us, and that was the key.

I don't know about you.

When I'm struggling with something, I naturally become inward focused.

I can become very selfish when I have problems or when I'm struggling financially or physically or whatever it is.

But the Macedonians were able to be generous with other people because, before they had the opportunity to give, they already decided in their minds we belong to God.

God, whatever I have is yours.

Here's my hands.

Use them as you want to.

Here's my lips.

Use them as you want to.

Here's my blessings.

Use them how you want to.

They gave them first to God, and because they gave themselves first to God, you remember, in verse 4 it says they begged.

They begged to share with their brothers and sisters in need.

My grandkids are relentless in begging.

I'm telling you and it's usually Poppy, will you play with us?

And they are relentless Please, please, please, stick that lip out, please, poppy, please, please.

And you know what usually happens I give in, I give in.

I can be dead dog tired, but I'll give in even though I want to.

Now I'm going to be honest with you.

I've been preaching a long time and I've never had anybody beg hey, please, let me give more, please, let me give more.

But they said they begged and it was because they had submitted to God and they understood what God was doing in their lives.

And so they submitted to God first.

And the key to being a generous person is to realize that you know what I'm to do, what God wants me to do, no matter what that's.

The key to becoming more generous is understanding that God wants me to be a giver like he is, and so they begged to do that.

Number two we can become more generous when we view generosity as a gift of grace that God allows us.

It's an act of his grace to let us give to God.

They're celebrating God's grace.

Giving is a way to celebrate God's grace.

The word grace in 2 Corinthians 8, in those first nine verses I think, appears five times, and so Paul talks about giving as an act of grace, being generous as a way to share God's grace.

And in verse 7 it's almost like Paul's being sarcastic, because in verse 7 Paul says but since you excel in everything, if you know anything about the letter that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, if you know anything about it, they were pretty arrogant people.

They were hey, I speak in tongues and you don't.

Hey, I prophesy and you don't.

Hey, look at me, I love better than you.

Hey, look at us, I'm better than you.

And so Paul, sort of sarcastically here, I believe, is saying hey, since you excel in all that other stuff, since you say you're so good because you're so spiritual, because you do that, hey, I attended Wednesday night services for 50 years and never missed.

Well, since you excelled in all of that stuff, why don't you excel in the grace of giving?

If grace of giving, if you really want to excel in something, be generous.

And so he's being sort of sarcastic there.

And we need to understand that God's grace not only saves me from something, it saves me for something.

He doesn't only save me from my sin, but he saves you so you can be what he created you to be to begin with.

And God created us all in his image, which means we are called to be image bearers of God.

An image of something helps you see the real thing.

If you go to the Lincoln Memorial and you see a statue of Lincoln sitting up there in the Lincoln Memorial, there's an image of Abraham Lincoln.

Who do you think of sitting up there in the Lincoln Memorial?

There's an image of Abraham Lincoln.

Who do you think of Abraham Lincoln, that image of Abraham Lincoln.

And so when God says you know, he says you were created in God's image.

In other words, when people see us, we were created to point people to God.

We should think of God.

He created us that way, but because of sin we messed that up.

And then Jesus came and he died on the cross, not only to forgive me of my sins, but to make me holy and clean me up, so I could be what I was created to be, which is an image bearer of God.

And so he should have seven billion people walking around this world, and when they look at each other God's plan was, when we look at each other we see the love of God, we see the grace of God, because that's what we were created to be to image, to give glory to God.

And so being generous is a gift of God's grace.

He calls us to do that.

Some of us look at generosity as a duty.

Well, I better give something or the preacher will get mad at me.

Sort of like the old story that I told the 830 class about the little boy who swallowed the quarter, and the mom came running in and said Johnny swallowed the quarter he swallowed the quarter you better call the doctor and the husband said I, he swallowed a quarter.

He swallowed a quarter, you better call the doctor.

And the husband said I'm not calling the doctor, I'm calling the preacher.

He said the preacher?

He said, yeah, he can get money out of anybody.

And that's the way some of us look at generosity.

It's my duty to give.

What do you get to say something.

Or we sort of do it as an insurance policy Well, I better go help somebody so I won't go to hell.

Or my insurance policy for hell, I did something generous today.

Or some of us look at it as a lottery ticket Well, I better give to God and then he'll bless me.

I better give something and God does bless us.

But that's not the reason to give.

But when I look at it as an opportunity to share God's grace, when I look at being generous as something God in his grace has allowed me to do, then I have a generous heart.

I have the privilege of sharing God's grace with somebody else.

Does that make sense?

I've lost the clicker.

Here it is.

I need to recognize that generosity is voluntary.

You don't know that guy, don Meyer.

How many of you ever heard of Don Meyer?

Don Meyer was the winningest coach in basketball history.

Until Mike Krzyzewski passed him by a couple years ago, don Meyer was a phenomenal coach.

When I was a freshman at Lipscomb University, I went to Lipscomb University crammed four years into eight.

And when I went to Lipscomb University as a freshman me and a friend of mine, joe Deal, walking down the road, don Meyer was the new coach at Lipscomb University.

He walked up and said hey, how you boys doing.

And I'm thinking, well, the coach is walking up to me because I'm just this fine specimen of a freak athlete.

And I said well, fine, sir, how are you coach?

He said yeah.

And he said well, what's your name?

I told him it's Joey.

He said what are you boys doing tonight?

I said I don't know.

We're just freshmen here walking around campus, we don't know what we're doing.

He says why don't know?

We're just freshmen here walking around campus, we don't know what we're doing.

He says why don't you come over to my house for homemade peach ice cream?

I said huh, I just met you.

Yeah, yeah, I just come over to my house.

Here's the address to be there.

Stop my car.

We looked at each other like is this guy for real?

I mean this guy, but being hungry freshmen, we showed up at 645 hoping we'd get dinner and peach ice cream, but we didn't know if he was serious or what.

So we knocked on the door.

He said hey, come on in, boys, come on in.

We introduced us to his wife.

We went out on the patio and he gave us this big old bowl of peach ice cream and we spent the evening there talking with the winningest basketball coach in the history of college basketball eating peach ice cream.

And we spent the evening there talking with the winningest basketball coach in the history of college basketball eating peach ice cream.

I wanted to learn from Don Meyer.

I liked basketball.

I was not very good at it, but I loved playing it.

I took every class Don Meyer taught at college.

I read every book that he wrote.

I went to the games and sat behind the bench and listened to him.

I tried to hang out with him.

I wanted to be like Don Meyer, all because he taught me, all because he gave me some peach ice cream.

I started coaching basketball.

I just wanted to do everything, all because he took time.

I wasn't made to do it.

Nobody made me read Don Meyer's books.

Nobody told me I had to be like Don Meyer.

I wanted to be like Don Meyer because he gave me he cared enough to give me a bowl of peach ice cream.

God wants us to be generous, but he doesn't want us to do it because we have to.

He says God loves a cheerful giver.

The kingdom of God that we're all citizens of is not a kingdom of coercion.

He's not going to make us do anything.

He wants us to, but he's not an oppressive.

It's not an oppressive government.

God is the one being powerful enough to force us to do things against our will, but he won't do it Because that wouldn't be love.

The devil wants to make us slaves.

God wants to set us free and he says if you just obey me, you'll be free.

The devil wants to enslave you.

The devil wants to ruin your life, but God doesn't want slaves.

He wants children, he wants a loving relationship.

He wants people to partner with Him.

He wants to be our friends and therefore he gives us free will.

And so part of that free will he says listen, I want you to give.

He tells the Corinthians.

But don't give out of compulsion.

Don't give out of guilt, because I love a cheerful giver.

Don't give out of guilt, because I love a cheerful giver.

Therefore, I experience God's love.

The more I experience God's love, the more I love God.

And the more I love God, the more I want to be like God.

God loves, god gives cheerfully.

To be like God, god loves, god gives cheerfully.

He delights in showing mercy, he loves sharing with others.

And as I love him more, I'm going to want to be more generous because I want to be like the Father.

Does that make sense?

Just like I wanted to be like Don Meyer, I want to be like a father.

And it's not.

I better give, but I get to be Jesus to someone.

When I give, when I'm a cheerful giver, I'm being like God.

When I'm a cheerful giver, I'm fulfilling my purpose.

When I'm a cheerful giver, I'm making a difference for eternity.

I'm being selfless instead of selfish, because selfish people aren't cheerful.

When I'm a cheerful giver, I'm making God's heart glad because he loves a cheerful giver.

He loves a cheerful giver.

Let's see, oh, that don't mean anything to you, does it?

That is as priceless as a Rembrandt to me and I'll sell it to you for the price of a Rembrandt if you want me to.

That's Harper, she did that.

One day I come in, that's on the counter by my Keurig.

It says coffee in here for Poppy Love Harper.

And then Calloway sort of got in of it on the end over there scribbling on the side.

She had that there.

She'd had a bowl and she had all my little Keurig pods stacked up.

She had a bowl with all my Splenda, whatever in there and she had this big presentation there on the counter for me to give to me.

But I looked at that and thought that's my coffee and that's my bowl and that's my Splenda and that's my piece of paper.

And she used my marker.

None of that was hers to give, but I loved it.

I loved it Because she gave it cheerfully.

She just wanted to give just to show Poppy that she loved me.

There's nothing valuable about that.

You're not going to see that in the Louvre.

Is that how you pronounce that?

Is that that art museum Louvre?

Okay, you're not going to see it.

But what makes it special is the joy that the gift brought both to the giver and the receiver.

She had joy giving it and it brought me joy.

That's what cheerful giving does.

It helps us understand that.

Then the last thing remember God blesses generosity.

We become a more generous community when we remember God blesses generosity and he talks about that.

He talks about sowing and reaping.

We've heard about that.

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

And we understand that the farmer who sows a lot of seed will have a better chance for a bigger harvest.

The farmer that sows one seed not going to get a whole lot.

And so God says listen, I love a cheerful giver and you, just as you, have an opportunity to be generous.

God's not saying impoverish yourself.

He's just saying share your blessings with other people, as you have that opportunity, and big sowing equals big harvest.

Now we need to understand that, that God will bless us.

But that doesn't mean that if you give god ten dollars, he's going to give you a hundred, because the blessings god's talking about is much more important.

God's not a heavenly slot machine.

God's not.

You keep putting quarters in and push it and then god's going to give you no, no, that's not what God's talking about.

So what kind of harvest does a cheerful giver receive when he just goes and shares, whenever he has opportunity, his time, his talent, his treasure with people?

What does he receive?

Well, certainly heavenly treasures, and heavenly treasures I believe include I'm not sure what heavenly treasures are.

I believe they include souls that are in heaven because we shared.

I believe with all my heart that there's going to be people from Cuba that walk up to this church one day in heaven and walk up to you and say I'm in heaven because you are a cheerful giver.

That's part of the heavenly treasures that we talk about.

Certainly it's the harvest of righteousness and holiness, as we keep the sins related to money from us by giving.

When I learn to give, then I'm being more holy.

When I learn to give, I see God's faithfulness in that he provides for me.

When I learn to give, I receive a harvest of joy because I'm pleasing God when I give.

And so as we practice this principle of sowing, we need to understand that what we're doing is that when we give, we haven't lost something.

When you give, you're not losing something, You're investing it into eternity and God says we get that return for that.

I've never seen a sad farmer sowing seed.

Oh, this is terrible.

Oh man, there goes the.

I'm not, it's just they sow in hope because they believe they're going to reap.

And cheerful givers, we sow in hope, we share, whenever we have an opportunity in hope.

And he tells us that I'm not commanding you to give, but I want to see if your love is true by comparing you with others that really want to help.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know that Christ was rich, but for you he became poor, so that by becoming poor you can become rich.

That is what it's all about.

That's the key to being generous.

He says when you're generous with your blessings, when you're generous, you're not holding on to them, you will be blessed.

And he says you will be blessed so you can be generous.

And then, when you're generous, you'll be blessed.

And then you can take those blessings to be generous.

And then we are being like God.

And so in a few minutes, when we do and I think Lincoln from the Ahamas will be praying for a giving, one of the missionaries we support in Ahamas it's just an opportunity for us to give a little more in order to help some folks, our brothers and sisters, who don't have it.

God's not worried about the amount.

It's the heart that matters.

That's what matters.

The heart matters more than the amount.

Jesus became poor so we could become rich, and he wants to make you rich by removing your guilt, making you a child of the kingdom, making you a co-heir with Christ.

He wants to give your life purpose.

He became poor.

He came to earth and became poor so that we could be a child of the king.

He wants to make you rich and if you would like to do that, you can accept Jesus as God's son and claim him as Savior.

You can be baptized into Christ to have your sins washed away.

Let's together, we stand.

For all that you've done.

I will thank you For all that you're going to do For all that you've promised, and all that you are is all that has carried me through.

Jesus I thank you.

And I thank you.

Thank you, lord, and I thank you thank you, Lord.

And I thank you.

Thank you, lord, thank you for loving and setting me free.

I thank you for giving your life just for me, how I thank you for giving your life just for me, how I thank you, jesus, I thank you Gratefully, thank you, thank you and I thank you, thank you.

Lord.

And I thank you, thank you.

Lord, Thank you Lord.

Thank you for loving and setting me free.

Thank you for giving your life just for me.

How I thank you, jesus?

I thank you Gratefully, thank you.

Thank you, amen.

Please be seated, father, let your will be done On earth as in heaven.

Right here in my heart, Father let your kingdom come, father, let your will be done On earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us.

Forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us.

Forgive them and lead us not into temptation.

But, deliver us from evil one.

Let your kingdom come, Father.

Let your kingdom come, Father.

Let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart, Father.

Let your kingdom come, Father.

Let your will be done On earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us forgive us, as we forgive the ones who sin against us.

Forgive them and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Let your kingdom come.

It's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours.

The kingdom, the power, the glory are yours.

It's yours.

It's yours, all yours's, yours.

It's yours, all yours, all yours, forever and ever.

The kingdom, the power, the glory are yours, it's yours, it's yours, all yours all yours, Forever and ever.

The kingdom is yours, Father let your kingdom come.

Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.

Father, let your kingdom come, father, let your will be done On earth as in heaven, right here in my heart, on earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.

Amen, praise God everybody, have a great week, tell somebody about Jesus this week, give generously this week.

Thanks, ashley, appreciate you, brother.