Money can buy you a $5,000 mattress, but it cannot buy you rest. It can buy you the latest toys, but can't give you joy. It can give you a comfortable retirement, but not give you the ability to die at peace with God. And, you know, ultimately, isn't that all the things that you were seeking? You were seeking rest, you were seeking joy, you were seeking fulfillment.
Isn't that what you were after? And Paul says it's uncertain. Thanks for joining us today for the Summit Life podcast with J.D. Greer. I'm Molly Vitovich.
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Now today on the podcast What does the gospel really teach us about wealth and generosity? Pastor J.D. titled this message, A Generous Spirit.
So let's come with an open heart and open hands as we hear these truths from God's Word. If you got your Bible, I want you to open it to John chapter 15. John chapter 15, we're in the middle of, or actually coming toward the end, not quite at the end, of a series that we are calling gospel. And we are talking about the revolutionary power of Christianity. One of the things that I've given you throughout our time together is this kind of wheel that we are using to give you a picture of what growth in the gospel looks like.
These are five or six things that come out of John 15 that Jesus said will be true of you if you are planted in him. First thing we looked at is when Jesus has changed you, he gives you a hunger for his word. He gives you the capacity and the faith to pray. That was the first week. Then the second week, we talked about how God increases godly character in us through the gospel.
We become more patient with others. We develop self-control and kindness and goodness and all the other fruit of the Spirit. Then we talked about community. When Jesus has changed you, you develop a love for others that's similar to his love for you. And so you start to want to pour out your lives for others, especially the church, the way that he poured his out for you.
Then we talked about how when Jesus changes you, you are compelled to go outward to tell people on your team or in your dormitory or at your workplace who don't know Jesus. You're moved outward. This week we're going to look at generosity, how what the gospel produces in us is a generous spirit.
Now, before we jump into that, let me just kind of. This is not something we're just doing for a series. This is something that we want you to be able to use. It's just kind of a metric to help you measure how you're growing in Christ. All right, so we're going to deal with generosity this week.
Generosity is the sign that you have been transformed by the gospel. It shows up all over John 15. Let me show you one of the main places, John 15, verse 12. Jesus said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than someone laid down his life for his friends, which, of course, Jesus is talking first about him for us.
But then he's talking about you and me laying down our lives for others. The mark. Let me say this again. The mark that you have experienced the gospel is that you possess a generosity of spirit. The love of God for you.
produces in you a love for others. Period.
Now, a lot of us grew up in different churches that emphasize different marks that... as being indicative of the fact that you'd experience God.
Some of you grew up in traditions where if you really experienced God, then you got, you know, had some ecstatic moment with the Holy Ghost. Because they don't call it Holy Spirit, it's Holy Ghost. And you got filled with the Holy Spirit and you did a little Holy Ghost dance in front of everybody and started to speak and say things that you didn't know what you were saying. And that was a sign that God was in you.
Some of you grew up in traditions like that.
Some of you grew up in traditions where the sign was you went through your first communion, you went through a confirmation class and you got stood up and presented in front of the church. That was a sign that God was among you.
Some of us grew up in traditions that the sign that you had God enter your life is you suddenly conformed to a set of rules that put you squarely in the middle of the 1950s. Right, so if God, if Jesus would really come into your heart, first thing you did if you were a guy was you cut your hair short. Because that's just what Jesus likes. I mean, never mind that he had long hair when he was here, but now he's kind of changed his ideas and he likes a crew cut for guys. Um if you were a girl, then you quit wearing the skinny jeans.
All right, which probably is not a bad idea, but you know, that was just a sign that you'd experienced God. If you were a girl, you're allowed to have one subtle earring in each ear. None of this, like, up the earload stuff. That's for prostitutes, but none of the hoop action either. It's got to be one subtle earring.
If you're a guy, don't even think about it. Nothing on you should be pierced. Certainly, not one earring in the left ear. It's just that's a sign that God has come into you, is that you have all this moral behavior. Of course, you start to vote Republican.
You started to hate the demonic jungle beat of rotten music and you developed this insatiable desire for the Gaither vocal band. That was a sign that God was in you. These were all signs that you loved Jesus. You developed a passion for potluck dinners. That was another one.
These were the signs that God was in you. Of course. Most of that, all of that is is pretty ridiculous. But there is an unmistakable mark that Jesus has come into you, and that is love for others, particularly other believers. This issue of generosity, the issue of generosity as a part of a believer's life, get this, is mentioned 2,285 times in the Bible.
You're like, well, I mean, the Bible's a big book. It doesn't surprise me. Hope is mentioned 185 times. Faith is mentioned 246 times. Love, 733 times.
Generosity, 2,285 times. What does that tell you? It tells you it is essential. The Apostle John would say this in another place. The same guy who wrote the Gospel of John said this in one of the epistles, which are not the wives of the apostles, but they are the letters that he wrote to the church.
1 John 3:14, we know that we have passed out of death. Into life. How? How do we know that? Because we love the brothers.
It's not how much or how often we attend church that shows that we pass from death to life. It's how we talk about people on the way home after church. That shows whether or not we have experienced the gospel. Whoever does not love abides in Death. By this, we know love that He laid down His life for us.
How do we come to know the love of God? How did that happen? Was it because God articulated the doctrines of his attributes to us in the careful, precise manner that we memorize and look, is that how he did it? Did he slap down a systematic theology textbook on our dining room table and say, master this? Is that how he taught us the love of God?
I mean, those things are important, certainly. But no, in this context, the way that he demonstrated the love to us was by laying down his life for us. That's how the invisible character of God became tangible to us. That's how we felt and perceive the love of God, not by the articulation of doctrine, but by the laying down of his life for us.
So he goes on to say.
So we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers because that's how other people know God's love as well. Not by just our articulation of the love of God, but by our demonstration of the love of God. Verse 17: If anybody has the world's goods and they see his brother in need, yet they close their heart against him, how possibly could God's love abide in him? How could we possibly say that we understand a Jesus? Who, according to the gospel, saw us when we were his enemies, when we were separated from him.
Then left heaven, emptied himself, came to earth, died a tortured death in our place. How could we say we perceive that and then see somebody? Who has a need, whether it's spiritual or physical, that we know that we can meet that need, and we just turn away from them. John says that's inconceivable. Inconceivable.
Or maybe that's Princess Bride. But either way. Inconceivable. It is inconceivable to say that you have experienced the grace of the gospel and then not be moved to give for others the way Jesus has given for you.
So he says, little children, let us not love in word or in talk, but in deed and in truth. Not in word or talk, but in deed or in truth. Christian love is not just a doctrine to be articulated, it is a lifestyle to be pursued. Our witness is both word and deed. Without word, the gospel has no clarity.
Without deed, it has no power. Both of them are essential. And a lot of people, I think, ought to think about this. Because, first of all, let me start without word. A lot of people have this, it's like this, I mean, it sounds spiritual, but it really is ridiculous.
Like, well, I don't really, I don't really tell people about Jesus. I just kind of live the gospel. You know, I like you but you've heard the statement attributed to Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel. If necessary, use words. How do you preach the gospel without using words?
It's like watching a newscast with the sound turned off. You might know they're excited about something. You might know something's wrong, but you have no idea what because the sound's turned off. How do you preach the gospel without works? It's just, it's impossible.
It's like saying, tell me your phone number. If necessary, use digits.
Well your phone number is digits. You have to use digits. The gospel is word. Without word, the message has no clarity. But without the deed, the message has no power.
The demonstration of the love of the gospel. that is shown in giving, that's where the real power is. And these always go together, the explanation of the gospel with our mouths and the demonstration of the gospel with our lives.
Sometimes churches like ours are pretty good at the preaching and the explanation part, but we're not so good at the demonstration part. That's why I've given you the third part of the gospel prayer as you have been to me.
So I will be to others. I will warn you, this is a radical. Life-changing. dimension if you pray this and you mean it. God, the same way that you have been generous to me.
What you did with your resources, with me. That's how I'm going to start to approach others everywhere I see them. That will lead you to a pretty dramatic reorientation of the trajectory of your life. Because it is generosity in response to the generosity of Christ. Today I want to try to show you why the gospel produces a generous spirit.
To do so, I want us to go to another place in the Bible. To one of the clearest places where this is explained. It is 1 Timothy chapter 6.
So if you'll go to 1 Timothy chapter 6. We're going to spend the rest of our time there.
Now Let me just say this: as many of you are turning there, I need you. I need you as much as possible. to separate this issue. that I'm about to talk about. I need you to separate this from giving to the church.
The reason I say that is because I know some of you right now Are you going to be like, oh, he's talking about generosity, he's talking about money, he wants our money. All right, I know that's what many of you think, and maybe you've had bad experience with churches, and maybe that's a fully justified thought. But I can tell you, that is not what this is about. In fact, so much so that I would say this without the slightest ounce of exaggeration. If that is a problem for you, honestly, Give the money somewhere else.
If you feel like, hey, I just can't trust you, I feel like this is all about that, then give it somewhere. I am much more concerned, honestly. I am much more concerned with you learning to respond to the generosity of Christ and becoming the generous person than I am with meeting the budget of our church. Just, you know, this is about you becoming generous in response to Christ, period.
Okay?
So can we do that? Can we separate those issues? All right, all right, here we go. 1 Timothy chapter 6, let's begin in verse 17. I love this passage.
This is completely. like brought clarity to so much of my life and my budget. As for the rich, Paul says, in this present age.
Now, let's stop right there. Because some of you immediately think Well, this passage is not for me. Because I'm not rich. Here's a little sociological insight about Americans. Nobody in America thinks they're rich.
Rich is always one or two levels above where you are. Right? I saw a Gallup poll the other day that proved this. The Gallup Corporation did this big survey. Um they asked people What qualifies you as rich?
So they asked a group of people whose household income was $30,000. What? What level of household income makes you rich? Do you make $30,000? The answer that you gave was $75,000.
If you make $75,000 or more, you are filthy, stinking rich. They asked people who made $50,000 for their household income. What amount of money makes you rich? Their answer? $100,000.
You break the six-figure barrier, you are just swimming in money. The most commonly given answer in America to what income qualified you as rich was $120,000. Except, of course, for the people that made $120,000. And then they felt that what made them rich was to be in the $200,000 range. Right, look a little perspective here.
If you earn $37,000 a year, your combined household income is $37,000 a year, you are in the top 4% of the wage earners in the world. 96% of the world is poorer than you. If your combined household income is $45,000 a year, you are in the top 1%. This same article talked about Bill Gates visiting India. And he talks to some little old lady in a village in India.
And when, after he's done talking to her, a reporter comes up to this lady and asks if she realizes she is talking to the richest man in the world. And the little old lady's response is: of course, everybody from the West is rich.
So, in other words, if you had been the next person to talk to this lady after Bill Gates, she would have put you in the same category as Bill Gates. The point is this is all a matter of perspective. When you compare us, even the poorest of us, to other societies around the world, we definitely qualify as rich. You go on a mission trip and then you come back here. Right?
And you start to think about what's normal here. Many of you have remodeled some part of your house. That's not that unusual. Try explaining that to a person in another culture. Yeah, I had a perfectly functional part of my house And we just like, it was so 1995.
So we just ripped out a perfectly functional part of our house and put in something new. We had a perfectly functional couch that we just sat out on the street. We got a new one. And the person from the other culture is like, but you don't sit on the floor? What's going on with that?
You have leftovers in your refrigerator, right? And here's the, here's the yeah, you feel frugal when you eat those leftovers. You have leftovers. Which means you had so much food at one meal, you couldn't eat it all.
So you put in the refrigerator. You have a garage. People from other cultures are like what you got a you got a whole house just for your car How about one of those things in the middle of your sink, you put garbage in there? No, you put food that you don't even think qualifies as a leftover. You have a storage unit where you put stuff that you don't even know what to do with yet.
You're just putting it somewhere that has air conditioning. That you can even figure out what you're gonna do with it later. My whole point is you definitely qualify for the first part of this verse. It's just a matter of perspective. This applies to you.
All right, it applies to you.
Now, let me also use that first phrase to deal with another objection. There's some thinking out there right now. That basically says that churches who take Jesus seriously won't have any rich people. Because people who love Jesus will give all their money away. Based on this passage, that can't be true.
If there were no rich people in those first churches, there would have been no need for that warning. God expects, yes, all of his followers to be generous. But that doesn't mean that some of them are not still rich even after they are. gospel generous. 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 7.
Hannah says, God makes some poor, God makes some rich. Both wealth and poverty come from the hand of God. Which means that God has made some of you rich. Even after being generous, you are still rich. And he did that for a purpose.
And you are not supposed to feel guilty about it. That's, I'm going to explain to you that in just a little bit. He expects all people to be radically generous, but that doesn't mean that some of them aren't still rich afterwards. Here's what Paul says to rich people in the next several verses. Again, best explanation of gospel center generosity anywhere.
First thing he tells you, he tells you what not to do with money. Verse 17: charge them not to be haughty. Nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us everything to enjoy. Number one, he says, do not be haughty with it. Do not be haughty with money.
You see, money very quickly becomes the measure of our status and our value. Because money allows you access to things that others don't have access to. Other people would love to live in the neighborhood you live in, but they can't. Other people would love to drive the car that you drive, but they can't. They would love to sit in that part of the airplane that you get to sit in, but they can't.
They would love to wear the kinds of clothes that you wear, but they can't. And what happens is you start to think that your worth, your significance is directly related to your financial status. And Paul says that means you don't understand the gospel at all. Because the gospel is that you are a sinner who deserves hell. But is loved by God and redeemed by his blood.
Your worth comes from his grace, not from your inherent worthiness. There is no difference in class to God. There is no difference in race. There is one class and race, and that is fallen sinner. There is one solution for all people of all races and all classes, and that is the precious blood of Christ, which is without value.
So those people who are in Jesus have a unity that exceeds all of these class distinctions, and they have a worthiness in themselves that exceeds their inherent net worth, and that is the worthiness of the blood of Christ.
So if you understand the gospel, he says, don't be haughty. Because everything that God gave you is grace. He says, number two, don't set your hopes on it. Don't set your hopes on it. Many of us base the security of our future on how strong our bank account.
how secure our employment, how stable our retirement plan is. And so for many of you, the idea of losing your retirement. The idea of making a bad investment or a bad business deal, having your identity stolen, losing your job, these are devastating thoughts to you. Right? Because that's where your security is.
Some of you have gotten so accustomed to luxury. that you couldn't imagine living without it now. Because your hope has been set on those things. You're like, well, I just like the finer things. No.
No, you you didn't like the finer things before you could afford them You just developed a taste for them after you could afford them and now you couldn't imagine life without them. Because you have set your hope on those things, and truth be told, they bring more significance to your life. Than God himself does. That's why you could not imagine life without that. level of creature comforts and status.
Paul says there's a problem with that. You see, first of all, it's uncertain. Money is uncertain. Even the most secure plan is not foolproof. Do we not realize that now of the Wall Street crash or however many years it's been now?
Have we not at least understood that? Isn't this why so many people are in such disarray? Because what happened is the God that they worship got crucified. That's why it threw you into a tailspin. That's why it devastates you because...
You had a false God. You worship that instead of God, and it was uncertain. It did not help you. And so God knocks things down. By the way, What happens when you get a call from the doctor that says you have terminal cancer?
What's your money do then? How many rich people have I sat with who could afford the best health care, but then suddenly they get something that no doctor can fix? What happens when your marriage begins to fall apart? How many rich people have I sat with who could buy a small state? But they can't keep their marriage together.
What happens when you lose control of your children? And things that you thought money could help can't help. It's uncertain, he said. It's not something to base your life on. Money can buy you a $5,000 mattress, but it cannot buy you rest.
It can buy you a house, but not a home. It can buy you the latest toys, but can't give you joy. It can send your kids to the best colleges, but it can't make them wise. It can give you a comfortable retirement, but not give you the ability to die at peace with God. And you know, ultimately, isn't that, aren't those second things all the things that you were seeking?
You were seeking rest, you were seeking joy, you were seeking fulfillment, you were seeking a stable family, you were seeking stability, isn't that what you were after? And Paul says it's uncertain. It's not where it comes from. You see, money is, listen, be number one competitor. for God in our hearts.
Number one competitor. That's why Paul says, 1 Timothy 6:9, look at this. Go back eight verses. 1 Timothy 6:9. Those who desire to be rich, stop.
Okay. Those who desire to be rich. Most of us, that's most of the decisions we have made throughout our lives. had been to try to get in the right school to get the right job to get the right money Right? That's why that's been the MO behind most of the things that we've done.
We desire to be rich. When we're not seeking less money, we're seeking more money. You desire to be rich. That's why every once in a while you buy a lottery ticket. It's not because you care about education.
Right? You're hoping maybe this thing right here will pay off? Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare. into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. You see, the love of money is the root.
of all kinds of evils. Money more than anything else replaces God in our lives. Proverbs 18, 11. That's why Jesus said this, Matthew 6:24, one of the strongest statements he ever made about things like this. You cannot serve God in money.
If that does not scare you, that verse, then you're definitely not paying attention. Right now, it feels like the world is asking us to choose sides when what we really need is gospel clarity. That's why this month, Summit Life is offering a free booklet called Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World. It's a two-chapter preview from Pastor JD's latest book, Everyday Revolutionary, and it offers a gospel-centered way forward through some of today's most divisive conversations. It grounds the discussion in truth, shapes it by love, and focuses on real transformation in the end.
And here's something special: we'll send you two physical copies, one for you and one to share with a friend, neighbor, or small group. Because this is the kind of message that's meant to multiply. There's no donation required. Just visit jdgreer.com to request your free copies today. Just listen to how Jesus talks with rich people in the Gospels.
He explains that riches are what keep more people from Jesus than anything else. Matthew 19, you've got a guy who shows up, who's a rich young ruler, who is uber-qualified in every way to be one of Jesus' followers. He knows the Bible, he's moral, he's got leadership qualities. Jesus sees into his heart and says, No, you can't follow me because you love money more than me, and I'll prove it. Go sell everything you have and come and follow me.
The young man goes away sorrowful because while he loves Jesus, he loves money more. While he wants to depend on Jesus, he depends on money just as much. And if he has to choose between the two, he's going to opt for money. And then Jesus turns to his disciples and makes a statement that ought to scare every person in this room almost to death. Says truly truly It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to go into heaven.
Jesus meant it is impossible. verbiage person. To go into heaven. But then he says, but it's possible with God, which means that Only when God has done such a supernatural work in your heart that has ripped up the root of your soul from money and put it into God? That is the only way that you're ever going to really follow him.
It ought to scare you and make you ask, has that happened to me? Mark chapter 4: Jesus talks about the seeds of God's word that fall on soil that receives it. They're excited about it. They come back to hear it again. They love to hear good sermons.
But it says then that the deceitfulness of riches spring up and choke out the seed of life. He says that's what happens. Here's the thing: the richer you get, the more danger you're in. 1 Timothy 6, you fall into this snare and you don't realize it. That's why it's called a snare.
So there's a thing you don't see coming. Right, slowly God is replaced as your source of significance and security. You probably never officially break up with God, but your soul gets consumed by money. You seek money more than God. You worry about money more than God.
You obey money more than God. The more money you get, the more it entangles the affections and trust of your heart. God ceases to be your city and money becomes that.
Some of you, when you made $18,000 a year, you tithed. Why? Because you knew the only way we're going to make it is for God to show up.
So, I'm definitely giving God his part because I need God to help make this work. But what happened is, little by little, as your income increased, you quit depending on God and you started to say, I've got enough money. And so, you started to hang on to it because it was your lifeblood. And that's why now that you make much more than 18,000 percentage-wise, you give much less than when you did make 18,000. What is your God?
Paul says, Don't trust in it, don't delight in it more than God, don't let fear of the future keep you from obeying God. That's what you're not to do with your money. Then he turns and tells you what you should do with your money. Look at this. First of all, look at that phrase: who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
Here's first big unexpected statement from the sermon. What does God want you to do with your money? He wants you to enjoy it. Why? Because God's a daddy and daddy loves to give gifts.
I love to give my children gifts. I bought my kids a new bike. It brings me more pleasure than her. I am confident. When I look out my window and I see her streaking up and down the street on that bike.
She got a smile on her face and I got one in my heart because I'm like, I love to see her enjoy these gifts.
Now, our four-year-old, our three-year-old, the one that I told you loves, you know, thinks everybody's clapping for her. She is a princess par excellence. And that girl, she changes outfits nine times a day. And we bought her a new dress the other day. I love to watch that girl just preen and careen around the house.
Now it brings me joy because I'm a daddy. God loves for you to enjoy his good gifts. God loves for you to enjoy the blessings that He's given you. He is glorified when you bite into a succulent Rus Krisp steak and just the goodness of God bursts alive in your mouth. Let's end this sermon quick.
Bye. You're to enjoy it. That's number one, verse 18. They are to do good. Your money, you see, was given to you as a tool for blessing.
That's the reason God gave some of us a lot, so that we could love and bless others richly the way that God does. That's why God gave some of you a lot. You see, listen, God gives poverty, He gives riches. God made some of you poor.
So that you can glorify God by showing that God is better than money. God made some of you rich.
so that you could glorify God by giving like he gives. I know some of you are like, please God, put me in the rich category. Let me glorify you that way. It's God's decision. And God, whatever situation you find yourself in, you're supposed to glorify him in.
Eternity will make up for all the disparity, but whether you're poor, whether you're rich, you glorify God sometimes in different ways. But God gave a lot of you. A lot because he wants you to glorify him by resembling him and how you give.
So he says they are to be rich in good works, which is a wonderful play on words. God gave us richly, so we should give to others richly.
So here's your question, are you rich in good works?
Now, I know what you're asking. Like, well, how do I know? What's the percentage? What's the magic number? I knew that you want that from me, and I'm not giving it to you.
I've thought about this for a year and a half. It normally doesn't take me that long to come up with a sermon, but I've been writing this one for a year and a half. Here's what I've come up with: How do you know if you give richly? Compare how you live to how you give. If I looked at what you drive...
If I looked at what you dress, In, if I looked at where you live and then I compared that to what you gave, which of those two would I slap the phrase richly on? Are you living richly or are you giving richly? By the way, some of you are going to have a problem with me saying this, but. I don't, I don't have a problem with you having a problem with me saying it. I don't have a problem with a guy that drives a $60,000 automobile.
I really don't. When he's giving richly.
Some of you immediately look at that and say, well, there's no way that a follower of Jesus could drive a $60,000 car because you know Jesus. Didn't have a place to lay his head. Yeah, Jesus also died on the cross for our sin, so I don't know how far you want to go with that one. The point is, what Paul says is that he gave it to you. He wants you to enjoy it.
So, the question is not how do you live? It's are you giving richly?
So, if I got a guy that drives a $60,000 automobile but gave away $10,000 last year to God's mission and his church, then I'd say he's living richly and giving poorly. But if he's giving richly, and after giving richly, he's still got enough that he can choose to drive a $60,000 automobile. Then I'd say just enjoy God's good gift and don't feel guilty about it. That's what Paul says to do. See, a lot of you see that $60,000 automobile, and immediately you judge the person.
You're like, well, no real Christian would ever do that. All you're doing is what I gave you at the beginning. You're judging people that are two levels above you. That's why you feel like that. The point is not.
Are you enjoying? The point is, are you giving richly? We say around here, based on this verse, you should give richly, live sufficiently. And then after you've given richly, maximize the enjoyment of your dollars. Enjoy it.
Bring glory to God through the enjoyment, but live richly. There's a principle that a lot of Christians teach, taught for years. It's called tithing. Means 10% of your income that you give back to God.
Now here's the thing, that's an Old Testament deal. Old Testament. And the reason, watch, the reason we don't preach that as law is because we're not Old Testament. We're New Testament. We're not under the law.
And that's a very complex system. And it was very all these different things.
So we don't preach that as a law for Christians. But it is a principle. that you start with that you ought to give the first fruits of what God gives to you back to him. But here's where a lot of Christians go wrong: they look at that like a checkbox that once you check that off, then you fulfilled your duty. That's not the point.
It's a guide for you to begin, but the point is giving like Jesus gave. Jesus has a wonderful verse that God has used in my life recently, Luke 6:38, that just talks about this mentality. Look at this: give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For what the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
No. A little pastoral honesty time. I had, until about four days ago, I had no idea what that meant right there. I'm like, is he talking about making a smoothie? I mean, what's he talking about?
Like, shaking together, shaking, not stirred over rocks. What is he talking about? Here's the image. In the Jewish agricultural system, Workers would go through the field and they would pick up these grain, this grain that had been cut down, they would put it in a basket. But because the workers were lazy, they didn't want to have to carry a heavy basket.
So, what they would do is they would just kind of, you know, let a lot of fluff be in there. You're just sort of throwing it in. It's like, you know, sort of a salad. They'd bring it back because there's not heavy. But at five o'clock, or after the sun went down, they would allow poor people to come in.
And for about an hour or two, poor people, this was part of the Levitical law, could glean anything they wanted.
Now, what these people would do when they were going through the field because they're poor and they only get one basket full is, man, they put that in there, and after that first layer, they're stamping it down and they're doing that, and they're shaking it to get all the. It's like you ever go to one of those Mongolian grills where you pay $6 and you get one bowl? You know, like that. And so you see if you can put like 48 cubic feet of food into that bowl and you're scramming it because you're going to pay six bucks either way. That's what he's talking about.
Let that be the mentality that you give with, not 10%.
So I filled up my bowl, but instead, let me give in a way that I'm just seeing how much I can do it. Because I have been given richly to. And I want to give according to the measure that God has given to me. Are you giving richly?
Now again, I'm just going to say this. If you think I'm talking about giving to the church. Just separate that for now. A lot of people believe in the church. And I mean, here, I'll tell you what, my wife and I do give to the church.
Because there are three things that we believe we ought to give to as Christians. One is to the poor. One is to missions. The other is to our local church. And what we have realized is that our local church is one of the best vehicles for all three of those.
Okay, I mean, we give away about 24% of our budget last year. About 24% of what we took in was given away. To minister, we have five groups, the homeless, orphan, prisoner, unwed, mother, high school, dropout. You know what, the agencies that we work with, we have vetted. We have made sure they're a good investment.
We've made sure that they minister to both body and soul.
So we feel good about giving it here because we know that they give it well to them. Missions, we give a lot of this money away to missions. We know that we're investing in people that we have taken the time to evaluate. But if you can't separate this generosity thing from a lack of trust in that, that's okay. It really is.
It really is. My bigger question here is are You giving richly in response to the God who's given richly to you. We're still in verse 18. I want you to be generous, he said, and ready to share. Ready to share.
That means, what's this? That means that you've created the capacity. to be able to give when the opportunity arises. You've created the capacity to be able to give when the opportunity arises, watch, which is what we call first fruits giving. You see, there's two different ways people give.
One of them we call first fruits, the other you call leftover. Leftover giving is when you get to the end of the month and you're like, how much do I, excess do I have? I'll give out of that. Here's a problem. I never get to the end of the month and think, dang, I got all this money, what should I do with it?
I always expand my expenses to meet the amount of money that's in there.
So, what study after study they have done shows that a habit of rich people. Is that whatever, this is not even Christian, but whatever they give, they give off the top.
So whatever they save, Whatever they give generously, it's always the first fruit. It's what they do, they set it aside. That's what Paul's talking about. You figure out what giving richly is, figure out what you ought to save, and just take it right out at the very beginning. That's first fruit.
Because otherwise you'll never have. Left over. And when you figure out, by the way, what you want to give richly.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice to get to that. My wife and I, this has happened several years, where we felt like God put a percentage on our heart to give. We thought that's what it meant to give richly. But in order to get to give that percentage, we had to look at our budget and say, okay, what is there in this budget that we ought to give up to be able to get to this percentage there? And there's years we've cut out things that are not wrong.
They're not sinful because you know God loves for us to have them, but we said in order to give richly, we want to give. And do without this so that we can give this way. That's my challenge to you. Figure out what giving richly looks like. Do that and then look at what you have left.
and say this is what I want to live on.
So you're like, wow, no. But see, I just, I got, I had this, I can't do without all these nice things. Again, that's not true. You just got to go place where you can afford them. And now they trump even obedience to God.
Verse 19. Paul says, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Paul says, help them to realize, listen. That real life. is not found in The things that their money can buy.
Real life is going to be found when they think about their lives from the perspective of eternity. That's real life. And that's where they really should be investing.
Okay, let me show you one of my favorite authors on this. A guy by the name of Randy Alcorn makes this statement. Um Financial planners tell us when it comes to your money. Don't just think three months or three years ahead. If you ever met with a financial planner, they always tell you this.
You got to think 30 years ahead. Christ the ultimate investment counselor. Takes it farther. He says, don't ask how your investment will be paying off in just 30 years. Ask how your investment will be paying off in 30 million years.
See, here's the tragedy.
Some of you are going to retire comfortably. And then you're going to go into your ultimate retirement with nothing. Because you haven't invested in eternity, and you're going to die and stand before God having leveraged all of your life right here. Paul says there's another kind of life. which not only you enjoy in eternity, See, there's another kind of life.
That you even start to enjoy now because it gives you a greater richness to your life. than even money can give. I saw this last week. Doug Marteline is a volunteer at our church, or has been for years, about 10 years. He's been here longer than I have.
Who pretty much puts together all of the sound stuff that we do? He's the guy that on the Durham Bulls Park showed up on Saturday, worked all day, stayed late that night, was there Sunday morning before any of us were to help get all this working. He's got his headset on. He looks like he's an air traffic controller. He's making sure everything's happening.
It's all behind the scenes. You don't see it. I'm standing over there with him on the sidelines when the first song starts. About 10 seconds into that song, I look over and I see Doug. Take his earphones off.
And here it's just this overwhelming moment as the body of Christ together is lifting Jesus up. And I see him. to this lump in his throat and these tears in his eyes. tears coming down and it just struck me. It was like he invested the most.
He's enjoying this more than anybody right now. Because he's seen the fruit of his soul. as Jesus' name is lifted up. That is a little picture of what's going to happen in eternity. And some of you are going to go in with nothing.
Because you leveraged everything here. And you're not going to be able to have an investment that pays off forever. And Paul says, what a tragedy. You see, what Paul has explained to you is this. Generous giving doesn't come by making you feel guilty.
It didn't come by sermons. It comes by shifting your thinking fundamentally.
So that you no longer worship money as a god. You worship Jesus as God. You begin to delight in his generosity to you and you just become generous. The analogy I've used before is to tell you it's like it's like it's There's two ways to keep a balloon afloat. If it has regular air in it, The only way to keep it up is to hit it.
And I've told you that that's the relationship that I have with some of you. Is every week you're not doing well spiritually.
So you come in here in my role, what you pay me to do is just, right? And then I smack you about something. You're like, oh, I was supposed to be generous. And so all week long, you're giving out money and you're flowing. But the next week you come down and I got to smack you about something else.
That's why you don't like me. You don't like nobody likes somebody that hits them all the time. There's another way to float, and that is helium is in the blue, and then it floats on its own. The gospel is what changes you internally, so the generosity just comes naturally to you. It comes by understanding the gospel.
One of my heroes in Christian history is a guy named Nicholas von Zitzendorf. He started the Moravian missionary movement. But he grew up and as a young man His parents were really rich, and so they sent him for the finest education, which included a trip to all these European cities. where he can just get the best of European culture. And one day when he was in the city of Dusseldorf, He goes to this famous museum.
and he sees a very famous painting by getting Feti called Eke Homo. which in Latin means behold the man, and it was a picture of Christ. with the crown of thorns. Just looking upward. And Fete had put a a inscription at the bottom of the painting that basically said this.
All this I have given for thee. What have you given to me? And Zingendorf said that that That image was so overwhelming to him. Here's a Christ who gave this for him. What was he giving back to Jesus?
Some of you, especially you college students, came here. To go to a good school. to get a job to make lots of money. And my prayer is that while you're here, you will be presented with that question. Where would you be without Jesus?
All this he's given to you. What are you giving in response to him? What are you carrying with you in response to the gospel into eternity? Generosity is the mark of the gospel. Here's how I want us to close, all right?
I want you just to consider a question here. I'm going to give you. Here it is. You ready? What's your God?
What is your treasure and your trust? Is it Jesus or is it money? I want you to be honest. You don't have to you know you're not gonna ask to report this? Is Jesus your treasure and your trust, or is money your treasure and your trust?
And I want you just to consider it. And let the Holy Spirit bring clarity to your heart, okay? Is Jesus your treasure and your trust? Or are you expecting money to fill that role in your life? As you think about today's teaching, we pray it continues to shape your week.
Be sure to join us next time right here on the Summit Life podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Right now, it feels like the world is asking us to choose sides when what we really need is gospel clarity. That's why this month, Summit Life is offering a free booklet called Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World. It's a two-chapter preview from Pastor JD's latest book, Everyday Revolutionary, and it offers a gospel-centered way forward through some of today's most divisive conversations.
It grounds the discussion in truth, shapes it by love, and focuses on real transformation in the end. And here's something special: we'll send you two physical copies, one for you and one to share with a friend, neighbor, or small group, because this is the kind of message that's meant to multiply. There's no donation required. Just visit jdgreer.com to request your free copies today.
