God Owns Everything

If you come here regularly, I think you know that I don't often talk about money and giving. My reluctance has many reasons, not the least of which is that I'm aware that many people think that preachers and churches are too much concerned about money. And sadly, some preachers and churches and parachurch ministries do bombard us with frequent requests for money. Another reason for my reluctance to preach on giving is that growing up — we Scots know how to take care of money, as you know — growing up, I was taught that money is a private matter.

How much we have, how much we give is really no one else's business. So as I grew up, I don't know if I ever heard a message about money and giving. I was to be led into a profession which notoriously is concerned about money.

And in the practice of law, as I practiced law in Scotland, I realized and was told so by others that I had the ability, the capacity, the energy, the gifts to work hard, to be focused, to relate to clients, and to make a lot of money. And I did that for several years, but God had other plans for me. And I remember when I was called to be a preacher of grace and a shepherd of souls, God called me to leave it all behind, and to trust Him for my future.

If you listen carefully to the Testimonies of those who are baptized, one of the common themes was trust, that they have learned our learning, and we trust, will continue to learn to trust the Lord. That's hard for us, isn't it? But, in the matter of a few short months, I resigned from my law practice. Goody and I sold everything we had.

I did keep a few of my books. We sold our home, our cars, our furniture, virtually everything we had, and so we left Scotland and found ourselves in Dallas, Texas. Neither of us had been there before. I had twice been to the United States, once as a student, and then once Goody and I were on vacation in Florida. So, she had only been once to the U.S., I twice, and none of us had ever lived or were quite ready for life in Texas.

And I enrolled there as a full-time student at Dallas Theological Seminary. It was a four-year program, a master of theology, and we realized as we went to the United States that other than the income from the sale of everything we had, we had zero income. We sent no fundraising letters. We had no financial supporters. We asked for nothing, and we made a commitment before God, a very serious one, that we would never ask anyone for money. We believed that God was calling us and that God would provide for us.

We were, as people would say, we were all in. It was a momentous decision. As we look back, we can hardly believe that we did it, but it was very much a step of faith.

Not perfect faith, but it was a step of faith. And remember, before we left to Scotland, two friends of ours, before we went to the United States, two friends of ours gave us small financial gifts. One, surprisingly, was from a fellow attorney, and as he offered me the money, I told him I didn't want the money.

I had done nothing for it. In fact, I was rather embarrassed that someone would give me money when I hadn't done anything. It's much easier for me to work for money and to feel that I had earned it. But he insisted, and so we took this gift of money, albeit relatively small. So over the years, I've had to learn some very important lessons about money, about giving, about trusting God with everything. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you would say that you're trusting God.

That's what it means. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, the writer of Hebrews 11 tells us. And so today, I want to share some biblical lessons about giving, about stewardship. I've called it God owns everything.

That really says it all, God owns everything. But I want to look at some biblical principles of stewardship and principles which in God's goodness we have sought, good and I have sought to practice over the years. These are important lessons. They're not easy lessons for us, and they're certainly not just for those of us who are in full-time ministry.

This is not just for pastors and missionaries or those in full-time ministry. These principles are for every follower of Jesus Christ. And the first principle is everything belongs to the Lord. Let's look at Psalm 24 and a verse there, everything belongs to the Lord.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that everything that you have belongs to the Lord? God owns everything, no exceptions. Psalm 24 verse 1, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and those who dwell therein. To say the obvious, God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He's the one who spoke all of the heavens and earth into existence in the beginning. Apart from God, there is nothing.

He is the author of everything. Psalm 50 verses 10 and 11 says, for every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills, I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. We have a little bird feeder in our backyard. The birds come.

They belong to God, the birds. Paul writes at the end of the wonderful doxology in Romans 11, he says, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To God be the glory. Amen.

You believe that? That everything is from God. Everything comes through God, and everything is for Him. To Him be the glory forever. Again Paul says in Colossians 1 verse 16, all things were created through Him and for Him. That He is the Creator, He's the means by which things are created, but He's also the goal of all creation. God owns everything.

You remember Job? The story he's told in the Old Testament, this man who was one of the richest men of his time, one of the greatest men, but he lost everything he had. He had ten children, he had hundreds of sheep and cattle and oxen we read, and in a moment everything was gone.

And he says in that remarkable verse in Job 1 verse 21, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord is taking away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He owns everything and it is His prerogative, His sovereign prerogative who is all wise and all loving. He gives and He takes. And in both cases we are to say blessed be the name of the Lord. Job recognized something, that everything he had came from the Lord.

Everything he had belonged to the Lord. Think of it, everything that we have on earth is subject to deterioration, decay, devaluation, and theft. None of it lasts.

We're born naked and we go out naked. Remember grandmother's two rules when you play Monopoly. Rule number one, acquire, acquire, acquire. Buy, buy, buy. Rule number two, when the game is over, everything goes back in a box.

That's it. We'll live our life, acquire, acquire, acquire. When it's over, you go in a box.

Paul writes very similarly to Job. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6, he says, we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. I don't know how many funerals I've done over the years, but in every single case, the individual, whether very poor, whether very average, or whether a multimillionaire makes no difference, we go out with nothing.

We come in naked and we go out naked. A reminder of the brevity, the fragility of life, but also a reminder, a needed reminder that everything we have belongs to the Lord. You say, well, hold that minute, John. I, for one, work hard. I've put myself through a good education. I've worked very, very hard, a very disciplined individual, and I've worked hard to get where I am, where I am today. Well, I'm glad you work hard.

We should work hard. Praise God for that. But I want you to understand that it is God who gives you the ability to make money. Just read of that in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Here's a passage which I found very convicting, very interesting.

Deuteronomy is the second reading of the law. The people of Israel are right to go into the Promised Land, and there they're going to be blessed. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. They've been delivered from slavery. They've gone through the wilderness. The hard time, as it were, is behind them, and now they're going into a land, and it's a wonderful land. And here Moses, or the Lord through Moses, gives a warning.

Deuteronomy 8 verse 17. So he's saying, look, you're doing very well in the land, and when that happens, remember something. Beware, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. You've worked hard. You've got wealth.

Remember, it's God's power and God's might. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant, that He swore to your fathers as it is this day. You see, when we're successful in life, when life is going very well, we're making a lot of money.

If we've got that ability to make money, what happens? It's very easy to be proud, isn't it? It's very easy to say, this is what I have done. It's very easy to be self-sufficient, to be self-reliant, to think, well, others don't work hard as I do, but look at what I've done.

I've actually done very, very well for myself. It's very easy to forget that everything that we have comes from the Lord. If you're intellectually clever, remember God gave you your brains. If you have a lot of energy, remember that God gives your heart one beat at a time.

It's sustained by God. If you are athletically talented, remember God made your body a certain way and gave you certain coordination and so on. If you're artistically gifted, remember that God gave you these abilities. You have nothing that you have not received. Everything we have, everything you are, everything that you have comes from this great God.

And therefore, we are to hold everything, as it were, with open hands because we understand it's not God's job. We understand that in life, God can take everything from you. He can take your health. He can take your life.

He can make you very successful in business, or you can end up bankrupt. You can do well in life, or you can do poor in life from a worldly standpoint, but everything, everything belongs to the Lord. And remember, it is God who gives you the power. It is God who gives you the energy. It's God who gives you the ability to work. Therefore, if that is true, don't put your trust in your possessions.

Don't put your trust in achievements. Put your trust in God. Isn't that the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6? If you want to turn there with me, Matthew chapter 6. We covered this when we went some time ago through the gospel according to Matthew.

Jesus is teaching, and He's dealing with hypocrisy, and He deals with this very convicting passage, at least I find it convicting. He says in Matthew 6, first book of the New Testament, verse 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where the stock market goes down, where there's inflation, where there's devaluation, where the economy is totally unpredictable, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Verse 24, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

You can't. Impossible. There were a group of people at the time of Jesus, the Pharisees, and they were very successful. And in the gospels, Luke records that when Jesus was saying things like this, they kind of derided Him.

They thought they could do both. Yes, they were godly people, they liked the law, they knew their Bible, but they also loved their money. And Jesus is saying no.

Where your treasure is, there is your heart also. You cannot — don't delude yourself — you can't love God and money. Paul is going to say that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

If that's your God, you're on the road to destruction. People handle money very, very differently, I learned. Some people love to save money. They save, save, save, save. They get their security, they get comfort from looking at their bank balance, going over their portfolio, counting their money as it were, and examining their investments, admiring some properties and assets they have.

They are save, save, save, save. They live very frugally, but their security is in their possessions. On the other hand, there are people whose philosophy with money is spend, spend, spend, spend. Sometimes we get a husband one way and the wife the other.

That produces some tension in the marriage, isn't it? You've got one who wants to save all the time, and the other who spend, spend, spend, spend. Usually, they're spending money on themselves.

In both cases, whether you are a saver, saver, saver, or a spend, spend, spend, in both cases, your self-worth, your identity, your happiness in life is directly related to your money, to your possessions, to your success, to whether you're promoted, to how much you get each year, to how much you're saving, and all of that. And Jesus is saying no. That's the way of the world. If you don't believe in God, if you just believe this world is all that there is, I for one, I'm going to make as much money as I can and spend some and have a life of self-indulgence if there is no God. But we understand that there is a God, and everything belongs to Him. And therefore, your trust in mine is not to be in our possessions, not to be in our money.

Our trust is to be in God who is our Creator and our Redeemer and our Friend, and one day we are accountable to Him. This is the principle of stewardship, of management. We want to think we are owners of everything. This is my house. This is my car. These are my possessions. And God is saying, no, actual fact, they're all mine.

I've given you them, and I can take them from you. No, you are a steward. You are to take care of them, to follow these biblical principles, and part of the principle of being a steward is there's a time of accountable. If you are a trustee, if you are a steward, you have to keep a statement of account.

You have to use these assets not for in your self-interest, but in the interest of the owner or in the interest of the ultimate beneficiary. Accountability to God. When you found the more you love the Lord Jesus, the closer you follow Him, a wonderful thing happens through the Holy Spirit. We're thinking of the Holy Spirit this evening on the filling of the Spirit, a very important subject. And as we do that, the Spirit does what only the Spirit can do. And here's a good test of where we are spiritually speaking. The Holy Spirit, as we love Christ, as we follow Him, He increasingly frees us from our greed, our natural selfishness, our self-reliance, and our self-absorption, where we put ourselves at the center of our world and we often say to someone, you know, life isn't all about you. But for most of us, life is all about me. We put ourselves in the middle of it.

We're the little king of the castle. What does Jesus say in that passage in Matthew 6? He talks about money towards the end of the passage when He tells us not to worry particularly about material things. Look at the birds. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Look at the lilies.

They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not raised like one of these. Why are you anxious? Why are you worrying about these material things? No, this is what you're to do, says Jesus. You're to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

That's trust. That's the way that we are to live. I am, you are, to seek first the kingdom of God.

That is our number one priority. Not making money for yourself, not a life of self-indulgence, but we are to seek first the kingdom of God, and when we do that, God will take care of everything else. That's the promise, and these things will be added to you. Proverbs 11, 28, whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Either trusting in God and therefore flourishing or trusting in myself and ultimately failing. So there's a first principle, everything belongs to the Lord. If you grasp that, everything falls into place.

If you argue with that, you're going to have a problem with dealing with money. The second principle is that the Lord's grace to us is abundant. God is a God of grace.

We heard that in the baptisms. Somebody quoted from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, that not of your own doing. It's a gift of God, not a result of works that anyone should boast. So our very salvation is rooted in, is based on the matchless infinite grace of God, which by definition is undeserved and worked for. Everything we receive then is from a gracious God. We've been learning that in our study of Ephesians.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1 regarding our salvation. He says it's according to the riches of His grace which He lavishes upon you. Do you understand that God's grace to us is rich?

It doesn't give you a little bit. He lavishes it on us. Ephesians 2 verse 4, regarding our salvation, Paul writes, God is rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us. Not just a little bit of mercy, He's rich in mercy. Not just a little bit of love, no, God so loved the world.

He is great in His love. And then Paul also writes in Ephesians 2 that in the coming ages, our great God will show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. You only see a little bit. You want to know what the future is? You have an understanding of God's grace now.

I think I understand it a bit. What will be in the future as our great God shows us the immeasurable riches of His grace of kindness toward us in Christ Jesus? God's grace is infinite, and His grace is abundant. His generosity to us is beyond measure. It comes grace upon grace upon grace. Therefore, if God owns everything, and if everything we have is an act of God's grace undeserved on our part, our giving, the way I live is to be an evidence of and a response to the grace of God in my life.

You understand that? If you understand God's a God of grace, if you receive that grace, would you agree that our response is to live a life of generosity and grace, that we're gracious to other people? God is so generous to us. Shouldn't you be generous to others?

Of course you are. And that's Paul's argument in 2 Corinthians 8. Will you turn there on this whole subject of giving, stewardship?

Read, study, meditate on these two chapters. 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9, and we're going to read a few verses from them. I'm saying first principle, everything we have belonged to the Lord.

Second principle, the Lord's grace to us is abundant. 2 Corinthians 8, Paul is writing, and he's talking about churches. They were very poor churches in Macedonia, way there north of Greece. And he says there, 2 Corinthians 8 verse 1, we want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Can I ask you, has God been gracious to us at Calvary Church?

I think over the years, absolutely. He was gracious to these churches in Macedonia. In verse 2, this is surprising what now he writes, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. You would expect the very opposite. Here are poor people. Here are persecuted people. You would think they're in survival mode. They're just enduring.

Hold on. No, says Paul, I understand there is an abundance of joy. And when I think of your generosity, it is, verse 2, a wealth of generosity. See, the generosity of the grace of God is a powerful motivation to be generous in our giving, isn't it? That's Paul's argument that these Macedonians gave out of their extreme poverty.

Why? Because they had experienced as a church, as individuals, the grace of God in their life. And now Paul, in verse 9, gives us the supreme example of grace and therefore the great challenge.

What does he say here? 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of us can say that personally. I can say, I know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've been saved by grace. I've personal knowledge of this.

I've experienced it. My sins are forgiven. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake, He became poor so that you by His poverty might become rich.

Don't you love that? How rich was Jesus? His God owns everything, lives in light and glory.

And He comes down to this little planet with our sin and our selfishness and our self-absorbsence, where we forget God and live our own little lives. And He comes, and it is through His poverty. Was He poor?

Show me a penny. The foxes have their holes, the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. He's homeless. He doesn't have money. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

How wonderful. Are we rich? Yes, we are. You may be very poor financially, but you have untold riches. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ, and there is nothing that can happen in the world that can take that from us. Yes, all our possessions can go. We can lose our job.

We can lose our family. Life can be seemingly a disaster, but we have this incredible riches that we're in Christ, and there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God. And therefore, think of this, you will never outgive God. God will never be in your debt. Chapter 9, verse 8, if we can skip a little bit, says, God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. We who have received this amazing grace of God must be generous, must be gracious to others, because the Lord's grace to us is abundant. Principle one, everything belongs to the Lord. Principle two, the Lord's grace to us is abundant. Principle three, the Lord commands, I chose to choose that word carefully, the Lord commands us to give generously.

You say, well, I might give. Well, you're commanded to give. And when you give, when I give, we're to give, does this surprise you? Generously and sacrificially. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6, Paul uses an illustration that we can all understand. He says the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. If you sow sparingly, Paul says, you'll, you won't have a big harvest. Here is a farmer, he's a bit lazy, and he doesn't sow much seed. He shouldn't expect a big harvest.

He won't get a big harvest. Here's another farmer who's very diligent, who's very busy, and he sows a lot of seed, and he will have an abundant harvest. So when it comes to giving, there are two kinds of people. Proverbs 11, verse 24 says one who gives freely, yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give and only suffers once.

Sounds a paradox, doesn't it? Here's an individual, and he gives a lot of money, and he's always rich. Here's another one who withholds what he should give, and he is poor, like the farmer. Here's a farmer who gives away a lot of seed, abundant harvest. Here's the one who just gives a little, or maybe a lazy farmer who doesn't sow anything, and there is no return.

There was a man they said was mad. The more he gave away, the more he had. That's Proverbs 11, verse 24. There are people who are generous, and there's people who keep it to themselves. As it's often said, when it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing.

Think of it. Responding to God's grace, we give freely. We give generously, Paul is saying. We're to give sacrificially. When Paul is writing about the gift, when he's speaking to the Christians in Philippians chapter 4, we love to hear that God will supply us with all things, and God will strengthen us, but we often forget the context of Philippians chapter 4, where Paul talks about a gift that was given, and he describes it as a fragrant offering, Philippians 4, 18, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. When you give generously, when you give sacrificially, it's pleasing to God. In the Old Testament, you would bring an animal, and you would not bring the diseased animal.

You wouldn't bring the animal that had broken a leg. You would bring the best animal you had and offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord, and it is said, it's a sweet aroma to God that pleases God. I wonder if your, what you give financially today was a sacrifice pleasing to God. You see, all of us irrespective of whether we consider ourselves rich or poor, whether we have much or little, should give sacrificially. You say, well, things are a bit difficult at the moment. I've got a young family. I've got some debt. I don't have much money.

Maybe in the future. Giving sacrificially is an overflow of grace. Give as an act of faith in your heavenly Father. Trust God, believing that God will supply your need.

He's promised to do so. So, I'm commanded to give, and I'm commanded to give generously and sacrificially. I'll leave it to you with the Lord to answer whether your giving is generous and sacrificial. Here's another principle that we are to give regularly and proportionately. 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Corinthians 16, Paul says, verse 1, concerning the collection for the saints.

Oh, they're always concerned about money. No. This is part of Scripture. For the collection of the saints, as I directed the church of Galatians, so you also are to do.

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collection when I come. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 12, that the principle of giving is according to what a person has, not what he doesn't have. You're thinking of what you don't have. You're thinking, someone else at Calvary Church can give more money than you.

That's totally the wrong way to think about it. You're not to think of what you don't have, you're to think of what you have. And from what God in His grace has given you, you are to give.

The Scripture is saying that. You say, well how much should I give? Well, next week I'll deal a little bit with the tithe, the tenth.

I think that's a good guide. Some are able to give much more than 10 percent. Some who have two incomes in the family. You may be a new follower of Jesus Christ with a lot of debt. You may not be able to give that percentage, but you are to give proportionately. I recently did my taxes, and the question is how much should I give? And I can go right down to the penny, and you can take your income, and you can take your giving, and you say what proportion of all that I received during the year, you say that wasn't very much, or perhaps it was a lot. What proportion did I give to the Lord? You're to give regularly. You're to give systematically. You're not just giving what's left over, you're giving your very best.

I understand some of your students with very little income, some of your seniors, depending solely on your social security. I understand that. The Lord understands that.

That's not the point. All of us are to give regularly in proportion to our resources. And, not only am I to give generously and sacrificially, or regularly and proportionately, I am to give voluntarily and cheerfully.

Cheerfully. People ask me how much should I give? One of the answers is, how much can you give cheerfully? Second Corinthians 9 again, verse, sorry, Second Corinthians 9 verse 7, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, some legal obligation like paying your taxes. You don't like paying your taxes, but you'll do it. No.

I'm to do it. God loves a cheerful giver. We've all received a gift from someone who loves us. Here's a gift I received from my son, I think when he was four years old. You say that's not much value.

No, it's not. He probably paid 50 cents for it. And since I got it, I've kept it on my study desk. If you come to my office on the fourth floor, that is on my desk. You say, why is that so valuable?

Intrinsically, very little value. But it was given as an act of love, not because he had to. As he saw that, he saw my dad is great. In the last church, someone was put in my office and knocked off my head. I realize I always have people in the congregation who want to knock my head off, but they actually knocked the head off, and we put it, glued it back on. But imagine that you receive a gift, perhaps from a family member, and you sense they don't really want to give it. They give it because they think, well, I guess I've got to give you a gift. You know, it's your birthday. It's Christmas, or it's an anniversary. I say to my wife, oh, it's anniversary again? Oh, yeah, let me see. What can I give you? Oh, there we are.

Yeah, I got that. Going home, I stopped at Harrods Teeter and got these poor flowers. There you are, dear. Ticked a little box.

I don't know, man, about your wife, but my wife might throw them at me. The motivation, isn't it? The love. You love someone who gives you something cheerfully, something thoughtfully, something from their heart. And when we give, think of it not as an obligation, think of it of a wonderful, wonderful opportunity in a tangible way, in a practical way to demonstrate our love for our Lord Jesus Christ that we give as I have purposed in my heart. I give as an act of worship to my Lord Jesus Christ, who in His matchless grace has showered me with His grace. And my dear brothers and sisters, as we come to this capital campaign, and as in a couple of weeks you're asked to make your commitment, and someone says, I don't want to do it.

Let me tell you, don't do it. God doesn't need your money, really. No, we're to give as an act of worship. We're to give with generosity today.

We, as it were, should be running to give that this is a demonstration of my love for Christ. This is what I want you to grasp today, everything you have belongs to the Lord. You find that difficult?

I find that difficult sometimes. Yes, everything we have belongs to the Lord. And God lavishes, yes, lavishes His grace upon us, grace upon grace upon grace, and if you're here and you've never received the gift of salvation, we don't want your money.

No, we want you to receive this gift that no money can buy. A money, a gift that was purchased by Lord Jesus Christ as He died on the cross for our sins, and now offers it and says if you repent of your sins and you turn to Me and look to Me, all of your sins are gone and I will save you. And now, as those saved by the grace of God, we love Christ and we follow Him. And we say all that I have received, all my gifts, all my abilities, all of my achievement, all of my education, all of my resources, all of them are in your hands, Lord, to be used as you see fit.

That's called surrender. So give prayerfully. Give cheerfully. Give generously. Give as a sacrifice to the Lord. Father, help us to do that. We confess our greed, our self-indulgence, our cynical, critical spirit sometimes when it comes to giving. But you've, your grace on us has been phenomenal. We think of these ten baptize for the token of your grace on us as people are coming to Christ and receiving your grace, and you have blessed us incredibly here at Calvary. And so help us, guide us, free us from our greed and self-absorption, and help us to think more and more of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.