Intro
Well good morning Real Life… My name is Curtis and it’s so great to be here with you!
We are going to continue going through our series called Home. In this series we’ve been looking at what it means for us to call this place home and what each of our roles are in this home.
For the past several months we have said over and over again… We are the church. It’s on our t-shirts it’s on our Facebook posts, and we say it in passing conversation. It’s kinda become our rallying cry. In this series we want to start breaking down what does this actually mean. How do we actually live this out.
If you call this place your church, or your home, this is a great series because as in any home there are expectations and you can see what those are throughout this series.
If you are new here, and maybe you aren’t even sure who this Jesus guy is this is still a great series for you! You can get an inside look at what church is and into what Jesus has said about some of these things. You can see who we are and get a feel for what it means to be apart of a church.
Now I’m not sure the kind of home you grew up in. But one thing that I do know is that your house had some kind of expectations. I remember when I got my license and got my first car, a 1998 Subaru Forester… What a car… When all that happened my parents laid down some expectations for what this new freedom meant and how I could use it. They had some rules like I couldn’t listen to the radio for the first month, I couldn’t drive friends for 6months, and I couldn’t do anything “unsafe” (whatever that means). I interpreted all these expectations as I can’t do any of those until I get to the end of the street. Than anything is fair game!
This theory worked for awhile until one day I was driving with a few buddies and I thought it would be fun to drive through farmers muddy field. I had visions of kicking up dirt and doing donuts and it was going to be great. I’d wash my car after and my parents would never know. So a few friends and I veered off into the mud. And it was great… For about 100 feet… Until my car sunk to above the bottom of the door frame into the mud. Luckily we knew someone close by that had a truck they agreed to pull us out on one term. I had to call my parents… having no other options, I reluctantly agreed, called home and to my surprise no one picked up. So I left a message. I still had hope!
?I got out and I flew home hoping to get there before them delete the message and hope that my friends never said anything. I mean my plan was fool proof. But I walked through the door there my parents where sitting at the kitchen table…
I thought for sure I was going to get grounded, lose my car, and get in a lot of trouble. But rather than do that my parents told me about all the damage I could have caused my car. The damage I could have caused the farmer. And what it could have cost me. It was in that moment I realized that those expectations my parents had of me driving were actually for my benefit.
And that’s what we hope you see in this series. We aren’t trying to guilt anyone into doing anything. In fact if you feel guilted into something, you should definitely not do it! But we believe that this 4 things we are talking about are in your best interest. We believe if you serve, love others, give, and live in community you will grow spiritually and be better equipped to face whatever life throws at you. We believe this is the life that Jesus is calling us too…
Not only do we believe that this is what is best for you. We believe when we all play our part that we can do things we can’t even imagine together. We believe the impact that Real Life Christian Church can have on this community is huge. But we can’t do that unless we all play are part.
That’s why we are doing this series. Not to guilt you into doing something. But to show you the way God says is best to live your life. That’s what’s best for you and what’s best for our church.
Tension
In this series we’ve been looking through the story of Nehemiah. And I think this is a very applicable story for us in our current season. I think we can find some common ground with them. The story starts with the walls of Israel destroyed and peoples hopes down. Without their walls they feel vulnerable and afraid. Nehemiah comes along and is convinced they can rebuild. So he leads them in this process through ups and downs. Good and bad. He leads the nation through this process and that requires work and sacrifice from everyone. Everyone has a role to play for this to happen.
And as the story unfolds we see the nation of Israel come together and rebuild their city that was in ruins. It took all of them recognizing who they were and what they could do. And when they all came together and played their role they were able to rebuild.
I think we can see ourselves there right? Sure some details are changed. Our building was destroyed, which brought some fear and uncertainty into our lives. And now through this rebuilding process we are going to have many ups and downs. For us to get through this season we all will have a role, a part to play. We will all have to sacrifice for the greater good so that we can rebuild. Our situations are similar which is why we have been using this story as kind of our overarching theme for this series.
The past few weeks we’ve talked about loving and serving others. And the book of Nehemiah has a lot to say on those topics. But today we are going to look at an underlining issue that was faced in the building process, but not directly talked about by Nehemiah. That is, in order to build a wall of that size it would have cost a lot. Now we saw last week that Nehemiah secured some of the cost from the king. But there were still costs involved. Not to mention that the money came from taxes, which the people paid. Meaning the people, the Nation of Israel, had to foot the bill for the wall. A building project like that would mean each family had to sacrifice financially to make their dream become reality. They had to put their jobs, their careers, their life on hold so that they could focus on the greater good.
And that’s what we want to talk about today. Since Nehemiah didn’t directly talk about that we are going to turn over to Jesus and see what He has to say about generosity.
Now before I lose you I want to establish 3 things before keep going. Because I know what you are thinking… Oh here we go again… Another money talk, I should have gone to the beach, I should have stayed home… But hear me about, I believe that what Jesus has to say is very very important. So first let me establish these 3 things:
The reality is for a church to function it takes money.
In order to have a place to meet, bagels to eat, chairs to sit in, lights to be on, ac to be working, bulletins to pass out… All that stuff has a cost. So for those of us that call this our church. We share a responsibility to keep this running. We might not talk about that, but that’s the reality.
You should never give out of a place of guilt.
I can’t tell you how many sermons I’ve heard where I left feeling guilted into giving. That’s not what I want to do. In fact if that’s how you feel by the end, I’ve failed. You should never give because you feel guilted into it, that’s missing the point entirely. So if you feel guilted into giving by the end I’m telling you right now. Don’t give. Go home and pray about it and think about why you are feeling guilty.
And most importantly why we need to talk about this…
Jesus talked more about money than anything else.
Jesus spent more time talking about our money than anything other topic. Which should alarm us, we should be wondering why? Why would Jesus, who you know is like God, who by the way says he owns a 1000 hills with a 1000 cattle on each… Aka he’s loaded… Why would he be talking so much about my money and the little bit I have? Surely he doesn’t NEED it, right?
I hear a common complaint that the Church just wants your money… Which is certainly true in far too many cases. But why we talk about money is not because we want to get into your wallet, that’s not what we are after. Do we have to pay our bills? yes, yes we do. But that’s not our main focus. What we are going to see today is that Jesus isn’t really after our bank accounts… What he is really after is our heart.
Come on, be honest. Our hearts are tied to our bank accounts way more than we care to admit. Whether you like it or not, that’s just the truth. The reason Jesus talks so much about money is he’s trying to untie our hearts from our money so that he can get us back to him.
The reality we face as a church right now and the reality that the Israelites faced when they rebuilt the wall was they need money to do so. That’s life, nothing is free. That’s our reality today. If we want to rebuild. If we want to keep the doors open and the lights on. If we want to keep being the Church it’s going to take resources. That’s just true…
But there’s a much deeper issue that we are facing today. There’s a battle for your heart. So it really isn’t as much that we want something from you… It’s that we want something for you. Because if you never untangled your heart from your money, you are missing something that God wants for you. That’s the real reason we are talking about this today.
Teaching
I’ll be honest this is a struggle for me. I am constantly having to untie my heart from my possessions and make sure I’m trusting God for my provision. It’s tough. My heart is so tied to money and my possessions.
And I can see this every month when I sit down to look over our budget for the next month. I’m so tempted to think I give enough… I’m generous enough. I don’t need to give more. I see it when I look at my savings account and think man if I just had $X amount more… Then I would have enough to cover the what ifs… Funny thing is even my my savings grows to the point where I think I know have enough suddenly I think I need more to be safe.
Here’s the reality that this shows in my life in these moments… If I could only have {Fill in the blank} then I would be satisfied… Whatever that may be… If I could just get that, then I will be ultimately satisfied. Here’s what I really want to ask today is that really true?
We see this lived out in Luke 12:13, turn there open up on your phone… Luke records this story, of this interaction Jesus has with this man. Jesus is in the middle of teaching about heaven and hell, he’s in the middle of this very important talk when these dude stands up and totally interrupts… Check this out.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Luke 12:13…
Now think about this for a second… Jesus has just said all these important things… Don’t be a hypocrite, God sees what’s going on on the inside, what you whisper in secret will be shouted from rooftops, everything you’ve lied about will be made clear, heaven and hell are real, so you need to be reconciled to God, by grace through faith and God will take care of you and you can trust him.
In the middle of that sermon… In the middle of all that. This guy stands up and says, yeah yeah yeah… That’s all nice. I get that, that’s good stuff Jesus… BUT. What I need you to do right now is to tell my older brother to divide the inheritance wth me because he won’t do that. I need that stuff, I need that money. What you are saying is great, but this is more important.
Think about that… Heaven and hell hang in the balance and this guy is worried about getting his hands on his dads wrist watch.
This mans questions reveals what this man ultimately has faith in. He shows us what he’s put his trust in… And it’s not God. He thinks that if he can get enough money if he can just get enough stuff. Then he will have safety and security and he will be fully satisfied.
Jesus responds to him…
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
15 Then he said to them, (Now he’s talking to everyone) “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:14-15
Most of our Bibles use the word greed here… But the word that Jesus actually said carries a little more weight. A better understanding would be Greedy to the degree that you hoard things and money for yourself with no regard for others.
This guy has such a strong belief that he can organize his life in such a way that will provide security for himself. But to do so he must pursue money and possessions at all costs. Jesus is pointing out this danger in living this way. And listen this is something we need to hear. Because this guys worldview is similar to ours. This is what many of us think, Money and possessions are the pathway to satisfaction, which is a very prevalent worldview especially in our culture.
The problem with this worldview is, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work… So when Jesus says Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. What he’s sayings is you are not the sum total of your possessions. That’s not where you find your identity, that’s doesn’t define you. But so many of us do. We let the amount of money, our relationship status, our job title, the amount of cool things we have, the way we look, we let those things define us. And that’s a terrible way to live. You can have everything you could possible want but still be miserable. Money doesn’t equal a better life.
And Jesus, because he wants good for us, he wants to direct our hearts toward a better worldview. So Jesus does what he normally does in these situations, he tells a story. As we read this story notice all the “I” statements…
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21
What Jesus is asking in this story is what good is all the riches you have amassed on the day you die? What good will all that be than? The answer… Nothing, no good, it won’t mean anything.
What Jesus did was he told a story that illustrated a verse that most of the people probably had read and had memorized. Proverbs 11:4
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath. Proverbs 11:4
Money won’t help in the day of wrath… This guy worked hard so now he thought could kick back and relax… He built his wealth and now he can just coast. He worked hard so that he could rest… Which sounds a lot like the American dream right? That sounds like what a lot of us are chasing.
There’s something subtle in this text that with our western ears won’t pick up on…But all the people listening that day would have instantly picked up on.
Way way back in Jewish history there was a law that was given to all farmers. And it said..
Don’t go over the field twice (You go over it once)
Leave the edges of your field unharvested
The first question any business person would ask is why? Why should I do that? Those seem like bad business decisions, essentially you are leaving profit on the field. Why should I do that? God gives the why in Leviticus 23:22…
“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’” Leviticus 23:22
You see this man in the story was blatantly contradicting the law, and everyone listening would have known it. He was greedy to the extent that he was hoarding money for himself with no regard for others. this law was designed to help the poor out, not give a handout. It was thinking with the poor in mind.
And this law was designed to do 3 things:
It provides for the poor with an opportunity for dignity.
It takes care of people God cares about.
This creates a generous heart in the giver.
Here’s the thing about this law… It didn’t say you couldn’t have a good harvest. It didn’t say you couldn’t build bigger barns. It didn’t say you couldn’t have nice things… It didn’t say any of those things. It directed peoples hearts towards taking care of others. It directed peoples hearts to holding on loosely to their possessions so that those things didn’t get a tight grip on them. Some of us know that all too well…
Here’s the truth… And you may not like it, but that doesn’t make it less true… Nothing, nothing, competes for our hearts like money does. {repeat}
And that’s what Jesus is trying to teach us. That’s why he says be on guard against all kinds of greed.
And listen you don’t even have to believe in the Bible to know this is true. I’m going to read a statement that encapsulates a lot of what Jesus is getting at, and I’m guess all of us will agree with it. Check it out…
Being generous is better than being greedy.
I think we all would agree… Using what you have for someone other than yourself is better than using everything you have only for yourself.
Maybe you don’t agree… Let’s do a little experiment. Have you ever known a greedy person? Don’t point any fingers… Picture someone you know that is greedy… Let me ask a second question… Have you ever known a greedy person that is just full of joy? Just a joyful greedy person.
This is one of the reasons I love Jesus so much.. Jesus points us to what is ultimately true. He points us to things that actually work. He points to a life that we were actually supposed to live. He wants to give us good things and one of those things is generous heart that reflects his generous heart.
Now I want you to think about a generous person you know… How would you describe that person? I’m willing to bet that joy comes to mind.
Being generous is better than being greedy.
This is what Jesus is trying to get at in the story… What good does living a life all for yourself do? Answer? nothing. It’s an empty life that will amount to nothing the day we die. Jesus gives a staunch warning to not live this kind of life. And maybe the biggest warning of all is that life is the furthest from God’s heart that we can possible go.
Application
Don’t miss this this morning… We aren’t after your money, what we really want is for God to get your heart. Far too many pastors and churches have made so many claims about this stuff and I get it, you are skeptical, as you should be. And I don’t think that’s the idea God is trying to get across. God says he owns a thousand cattle on the thousand hills. In other words, the dude is rich. He doesn’t need our money. The reason God talks about money is something SO much deeper. He wants your heart, which far too often is tied to our money.
And listen I’ve tried to untie my heart and refocus on God in every other way… And I have found the ONLY way that I can give my heart to God is to be regularly and consistently generous to people God cares about.
The reality is when you give here that allows us to keep the lights on, that puts food on my table, that allows us to support ministries, and allows to do the work of the church inside these walls and outside the walls. That’s the reality, your money is used to make an impact on those inside this church, in this community, and around the world.
Here’s the bottom line… We need money to keep this place running and to rebuild at 900 Centerville. For Real Life to keep doing what it’s doing. For it to continue making an impact. Helping, teaching, gathering, and everything else we do, we need people to give to make it happen. That’s the reality.
BUT the main reason I think you should be generous is NOT those things. The main reason you should be generous is because our hearts can become so tied to our possessions and the only way to untie them is through generosity. To give to the people God cares about. That is why Jesus talked about money more than anything else.
That’s why in the Old Testament God commanded the Israelites to give a 10% tithe.
And that is why In John 13:34 Jesus gave us a new commandment… this is now what is required of us. As Christian this is how others should know that you follow Jesus… Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
That’s it… Jesus in that one sentence takes all the laws that once bound us and says listen, all you have to do is love each other… He made it so simple anyone can understand it. But at the same time he made it so much more difficult. Our command now is to show each other love as Jesus first loved us, in everything.
So when it comes to our generosity here’s a better question to ask…
What does love require of me?
When it comes to your generosity what does love require of you?
I know it drives us crazy in our culture to not have a number that way we know that objectively we have made it… We are generous… But I will not give you a number, because that’s not the point that Jesus is trying to make. Why does love require of you?
For Jesus, love required a whole lot.
10% is traditionally what most people think of as a tithe. However we are no longer bound by the OT law. That is no longer required. Jesus now says that we must be generous. We must show our love to others.
So for you maybe starting with 3-4% tithe is more realistic. Or maybe 10% isn’t nearly enough. When I first got married my wife and I start consistently giving around 7%. Each year we’ve given a little more to where we are now giving more than 10%.
I can’t tell you what you should give. 10% might be a good place to start, or maybe 5%, or maybe 25% percent… The better question to as is: What does love require of you? How can you show the most amount of love towards God and others through your generosity?
My pastor in college once spoke on generosity and he said give until you are little uncomfortable. Give until you need to trust God. That could be a good way to test to see how generous you are being. Are you comfortable in your generosity or are you having to rely on God?
Here’s the goal… The goal isn’t to reach a certain percentage. I thought a few times once I give this much, than I will be good and I wouldn’t have to give anymore. But I’ve learned you never arrive. Generosity is a growing process and there’s always an other step. You can always be more generous. The goal is to continually, regularly, be generous. That’s the goal. To live a life of generosity. A life that cares about those that Jesus cared about. A life that sacrifices and gives for the benefit of others. That’s a life worth striving for.
Our community are full of people that Jesus loves. And many of those people don’t yet know the love that Jesus has for them. That’s why we must be generous. We must show them the love for God through our generosity.
Everything we do as a Church is pointed to that. That’s why we give 12% of all our proceeds back out the door to organizations that are reaching people here in Hampton roads and across the world. That’s why we buy tech equipment so we make an impact on Sunday mornings. That’s why we spend money on tumblers and that 5in15 sign. That’s why we do Mega Sports camp and Harvest Fest. That’s why we do mens and women's ministry. Every penny we spend is focused on spreading God’s love to others. Right down to the reams of paper we buy. It’s all so that we can show God’s truth and grace to others. So that we can bring hope everywhere we go. So that everyone we come in contact with, everyone that walks through these doors might know that there is a God so crazy about them that He sent his Son to prove his love for them.
That’s why we are rebuilding at 900 Centerville. Because that’s what love requires of us. Love requires us to do anything and everything to show God’s love. We are generous for those that do not yet know the love that God has for them.
That’s what the Church does. That’s what love requires of us, to sacrifice so that those that are hurt, lost, hungry, hopeless, down and out, beat up by life, have broken relationships, and wondering if there is a god really loves them. We sacrifice so that they may know that they are not alone, that we got their back, and there is a God that cares for them.
When Israel was in one of it’s darkest place they rallied together and rebuilt? Why? Because that’s what love required of them. They came together, sacrificed their resources, their time, and their skills, and they rebuilt.
Now we have the opportunity to do the same…
If you call this place your home… If you call this your church. Then let me ask you one more time… When it comes to your generosity, What does love require of you?
Maybe it means giving for the first time… Taking that step of faith to untie your heart from your resources and give it back to God. Maybe you need to starting being generous consistently and regularly… Maybe it means sitting down with your spouse and evaluating your budget to see what it says about where your priorities are. Maybe you’ve gotten complacent in your giving and it’s time to stretch a little more. What does love require of you?
When I ask myself this question it always leads me to a place where I have a decision to make. Do I want to be generous or live for myself. And I wish I could say I always choose generosity, but I don’t. It’s a struggle. There’s a tension at war inside me over this between giving my heart to God or living selfishly. So this question of what love requires is a pivotal one for my wife and I. We have to ask it, because if we don’t we will hoard all our money for ourselves. And what good is that on the day that I die?
Love requires me to give generously to the church. Love requires me to give to other families, missionaries, and compassion children. Why? Because that is the only way I can untie our hearts from our things and bring it back to God. And while it’s not always easy, the joy that being generous has brought me is greater than anything else I could have used my money on.
When you are generous to those that God cares about it realigns our hearts to God. It brings joy to our lives. And it shows God’s love to others.
Conclusion
Will you take a risk this week and ask this question? Will you examine your heart, look at your budget, bring up that conversation, and see what love requires of you?
Will you take a risk, trust God, and show your love for others by being generous?
I get it, it’s scary… But we have an incredible opportunity as a Church. And we don’t want something from you, as much as we believe God has something for you.
The whole reason that we have the opportunity to be generous towards others is because God has generous to us first. Jesus sacrificed his life so that we might be able to live. Communion is going to be passed in just a minute. You will be able to take it whenever you are ready. But before you do reflect on what Jesus’ love for you cost him. Think about the sacrifice he made so that you could be in relationship with him.
Pray…
