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Jet Fuel - Concord Conversations
Jet Fuel is a podcast from Concord Baptist Church designed to ignite your spiritual growth. Each episode dives deeper into the essential spiritual disciplines that fuel a vibrant, enduring faith. Whether you're just getting started or looking to grow stronger in your walk with Christ, Jet Fuel will equip and encourage you to live with purpose, passion, and power.
Jet Fuel - Concord Conversations
Beyond the Tithe: Understanding Biblical Generosity
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Generosity might feel like an awkward topic, but Jesus talked about money in one out of every four teachings because our relationship with possessions reveals so much about our hearts.
• Tithe literally means a tenth – the baseline standard for giving established in Scripture
• The purpose of giving isn't transactional but transformational – changing our hearts toward God
• A.W. Tozer: "Before God will accept your offering, he must first have your heart"
• Small acts of generosity often make the biggest impact in people's lives
• Financial Peace University provides practical tools for better stewardship regardless of your current situation
For those interested in Financial Peace University classes at Concord, new sessions begin in August with options on both Sundays and Wednesdays. Some members are even willing to sponsor others who want to participate but have financial constraints.
Welcome to Jet Fuel
Speaker 1Welcome to the Jet Fuel podcast , a series of Concord conversations . In each episode , our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week . These are honest , practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency . Or in other words , this is Jet Fuel for your soul .
Speaker 2All right . Well , welcome in again to Jet Fuel . These are our Concord Conversations and they have been incredible . We're at week six and so I just want to thank all of you guys who've been watching and listening and supporting and we're just enjoying so much as I talk to different staff members who've been on this your comments and how it's encouraging you , it's giving you tools , and also comments on whether I wear a hat or not . So I appreciate that , but we are so glad to be here today and so today , eli , we are going to talk about one of the most awkward and what people would consider cringey things we're going to talk about . We're going to talk about generosity and giving today the most fun conversation ever . It is it is , but if you do think about it , when you think about Jesus's ministry , when you go to scripture , literally it's one of the top three things that he talks about . He talks about the kingdom of heaven and literally money and material possessions is something that he talks about a ton in scripture .
Speaker 3I think you I remember you told us one time that if we were to talk about money from the pulpit as much as Jesus talked about money , we'd be talking about money like once every month .
Speaker 2That's right .
Speaker 3Every fourth sermon would be on giving , which just sounds wrong . Isn't that crazy ?
Speaker 2I mean it makes sense , I know I get it . But so today we're going to talk about a couple of things and , just to help our people that are listening , we're going to go a couple of different roads and the first one will be kind of breaking down what is tithing , what is offering , what is generosity , those mindsets Just define the terms .
Speaker 2Yeah , define terms , because I know there's a lot of different viewpoints , a lot of different interpretations of Scripture . But we're going to get down to what some of those words mean and then we're going to kind of look at the heart and maybe some mistakes we've made , some kind of wins we've had where we've seen God show up and then give everybody a couple of tools to walk away with . So let's start out , let's define some terms . So , Eli , from a biblical perspective , what does the word
Defining Biblical Giving Terms
Speaker 2tithe actually mean ?
Speaker 3So tithe literally means a tenth . Okay . So we see all the way back in the Old Testament part of the Levitical laws to bring a tithe into the house of the Lord . And it's not always monetary in the Old Testament , Sometimes it's grain , Sometimes it's just random offerings , but it is going to the tabernacle to not only provide for the tabernacle itself but also for the Levites to be able to live , make their yeah providing for the house and the ministers , All that kind of thing because that was their job was to work at the tabernacle of the Lord .
Speaker 2Well , I love that because sometimes there's some confusion around . You know , we hear tithing and a lot of times we wanna kind of make it just giving . We try to make those the same term , make those the same term . But tithe actually means 10th and that was the acceptable bottom step for giving . Like God gives a hundred percent , he provides our energy to work , our opportunities and jobs , and no matter how much sweat equity we put into it , god is the one that allows us to be stewards . But a tithe is a 10th and for the believer , that is the standard that we talk about when we talk about a tithe being a tenth . So talk to me about offering . What is we hear sometimes , maybe them coupled together ? You hear somebody get up , it's the hosting time , it's in the music set and we say , hey , it's time for your tithes and your offerings . Are those different terms ?
Speaker 3They are so like we talk about , a tithe in the Old Testament is lawful . That is something that you are expected to bring , no matter what . That is part of the law . If you are not bringing your tithe , it was disobedience Offering . Is that step beyond that ? The overflowing generosity of tithe plus extra ?
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 3And so we see that all over the New Testament as well , of the bringing the excess .
Speaker 2Yeah , the offering , the over and above that's usually how I describe it . Tithe is that 10th ? And then , on top of that , over and above , is the offerings . You know when people would come . Do you remember this ? Did y'all grow up in a church like this , where a missionary would come in and you would gather a love ?
Speaker 1offering right .
Speaker 2I mean , some of y'all know what the love offering is . Somebody comes in and it's the extra that we give .
Speaker 3Or , like the Lottie Moon , annie Armstrong , christmas and Easter offerings Extras yeah those are great .
Speaker 2Well , let me ask you a question , just very personally when did you learn about giving to the church ? Where was it that you began to develop your worldview as a believer on giving ?
Speaker 3So it's been developing for the last I'm what 25 now .
Speaker 2You're so old . All right , that's incredible Mid 20s .
Speaker 3I'd say about the last 20-ish years , right ? So I remember very vividly mom and dad would would pull up church and they'd give me and my brother a little bit of money to give to offering for big church . It was a big deal for kids to put something in the play , right , yeah , it was super fun . But it already instilled in me the fact of , okay , this is something that we just do . We give money to the church , we give our tithe . I mean , I didn't know what that was , what it's called , but I knew that we gave money to the church every single week and as I got older and developed I figured out okay , this is why we actually give money to the church , this is what the money that we give to the church actually does . Whenever I actually started paying attention in business meetings and not just coloring in a spare notebook that my mom had in her purse , right .
Speaker 2And so as a kid it was a part of the worship experience and you saw your parents doing this , and so they kind of passed that down . As part of what a worship service looks like is that we get to give . That's big . I remember for me , eli , something very , very similar .
Speaker 2But there was a time in my family I'm the youngest in my family where my dad lost his job and he had to go back and took a pay cut and we were doing all kinds of things to survive just our standard of living , that middle-class life , and I remember my dad writing the tithe check and he said something to me that just changed the way I learned about giving . He literally you're like , hey , we may not have enough for rent , why are you giving a tithe ? And he literally
Personal Journeys with Generosity
Speaker 2said God gets his first . And I just remember the faith of my dad going , hey , if we don't have enough for food , if we don't have enough for rent , god gets his . And the sacrifice and trust I mean just as a kid , I mean I carry that with me in my much more birthdays than you have at 25 .
Speaker 1A couple more .
Speaker 2But that's a big deal . But you talked about something just a second ago . You said you learned the why we give . Why is it that we , as Christians , should give and why is it that you personally have made a decision to be obedient and sacrificial ? Because I know it's not always easy to give . Why do you give as a believer ?
Speaker 3Well , there's several reasons One , like we talked about earlier , that the Lord is the one that gives right . We own nothing on this earth . I remember there was a quote that I saw where somebody said it was an old pastor who said the Lord could leave me dead in a ditch and done no wrong to me , and so the benefits that we have of our life , the jobs that we have , the ability to have an income , is all a gift , and so giving reminds our heart of that , of that . Hey , everything that I have comes from the Lord , as well as another thing that I've discovered recently is it lessens my heart's tie to my money , right , Because the one thing that we love to do and we don't want to call it this is idolize our money , and I'm really bad at this as well .
Speaker 2All right , flesh that out a little bit .
Speaker 3Yeah , the thing is , what is an idol ? It's anything that you put above the Lord , anything that you put to save you right . And in our day and age especially , you know , being my wife and I newly married money sometimes is a little tight .
Speaker 2It's a little tight starting out .
Speaker 3But we realize that any time that we tithe , we never lacked . But any time we realized that anytime that we tithed , we never lacked . But anytime that we forgot to tithe , which we can talk about later , there's always a oh , what are we going to do ? Right ? But the Lord has shown and provided , like so much grace in that and so much provision through that .
Speaker 2Well , that's that's interesting , that you say that because you talk about when we give , you've never lacked . Because you talk about when we give , you've never lacked . But sometimes when we don't give , the tension that we feel , the anxiety that we feel maybe intensifies a little bit . For you , let me ask you this when we talk about giving , sometimes it's the discipline of giving . You know , we are disciplined to give the tithe , we're disciplined to give offerings or help support people on their mission trips or give to a charitable organization to help with our money . But sometimes it's a matter of our heart . You know , the passage we talked about this week was being a cheerful giver and you know , when we look at that passage , you know it starts out with that farming illustration of you know , if you sow sparingly , you'll reap sparingly , but if you sow much , you'll reap much . And for many people they interpret that really close to the line of prosperity gospel and health and wealth .
Speaker 2Yeah . So help us debunk that idea of going . Hey , listen , when we give , it's not about getting and receiving . When we give , it's about our heart being in tune to God . So help us think through . How do we stay away from the tricky pull of , if I give God's going to provide over and above , like I'm investing and I'm receiving interest from God . How do we stay away from something like that ? That's just , you know , not always the case . If God's going to provide extra , if you give Extra money .
Speaker 3Yeah , I think part of the misunderstanding comes in the idea of we think that God's provision looks like money . But oftentimes what God is giving us because of our gift is that heart for him . It is that heart for the people that we are in and around the people that we're in community with , the heart for our local body . And so oftentimes when we talk about you know , if you sow sparingly , you reap sparingly . If you don't really give that much , your heart's not going to be changed . But if you give a lot and if you give the disciplinely , your heart will change .
Speaker 2So it's not about the impact of the amount I think about Jesus in the temple with the widow's mite right All these guys come in clanging coins everywhere and the big show . Yeah , big deal . And then the widow came up very discreetly and gave all that she had and he was like she gave the most because it was everything . It wasn't just out of the excess , it was everything . I think it was you that directed me
Avoiding Prosperity Gospel Thinking
Speaker 2to a Tozer quote .
Speaker 3Yes , this thing stomped on my toes so hard . Do you have it written down so I ?
Speaker 2have it written down here .
Speaker 3Read it for us , this is a big deal .
Speaker 2AW Tozer literally said this . He said before God will accept your offering , he must first have your heart . Without that , your gifts are bribes and not worship . Mike , that's intense . I mean that's a mic drop moment because it has to change our paradigm . So let's talk about our church specifically .
Speaker 2So when we think about Concord , because most of the people listening today are Concord folks . How does it affect our church , in the positive and in the negative , when our body participates in disciplined , regular sacrificial giving , when they're generous , what does that do for the ministry that God has entrusted to us as Concord , in the positive and the negative ?
Speaker 3in the positive and the negative . It's evident when people are giving how much the Lord moves through their gifts , whether they know it or not , like cause . It kind of goes into a big budget and then kind of gets filtered into a bunch of different places . But the coolest things I've been able to witness is people who literally are going to go without and , because of the generous gifts of our population , are able to live just beyond the margin because of those special gifts as well , as I mean I'd serve in college ministry and getting to see college students just like receive the generous gifts because it's a mission . College students are broke . They don't necessarily give . It's not like we are investing in college students because they are a multimillion dollar program that's going to give us all the efforts in the world . But I mean I can name at least 15 students who spent their entire summer overseas because of the generous gifts of not only this population but also other populations as well .
Speaker 2Yeah , but also other populations as well , yeah . So it really invests in what our core values are and our very heart as a church , which is to proclaim the kingdom , which is definitely built out of the heart of the great commission . That Jesus said is that we're to make disciples , and so when we do that , we're investing in it . And so here's the thing that I've noticed sometimes too , is if people at Concord just come to worship , they just come to a worship center experience . They come for music , they come for the prayer , they come for the teaching of God's word . Maybe every other week or so , maybe the window that they see of what Concord does gets very small , that they're not maybe seeing what's happening in the kids' ministry or student ministry or our great adult community groups , our missions , endeavors with our people and partners we support all over the country and the world , and so sometimes when we get out of our little area , we can see a little bit more of what goes into the ministry being furthered in that . Now you talked about us investing in college students specifically , and generosity allowing them to do things that they wouldn't be able to do on their own . They go on a mission trip they wouldn't be able to pay for that . They're in school , they got school loans , all that kind of stuff .
Speaker 2What are some of experiences that you've had with generosity that people have blessed you ? Because I think of a guy I used to know and look this dude , I mean he had money All right , and he was just one of those guys and I know there's a reason that I don't have just stacks on stacks because we've seen it ruin some people . Yes , but for this guy he loved being generous and he would do things like this . He would be like ,
Impact of Generosity on Church Ministry
Speaker 2hey , will you go find out how much their student debt is ? Can you ask them what their car note is ? And then I'd report and he would just write a check for it and go , hey , go bless them with that .
Speaker 2And it was the coolest thing just to be the delivery boy to that A guy that worked with us . His son got cancer and right in the beginning of it he just wrote this big check and goes just take it to them to ease whatever financial deal that they have . And I know that this guy tithed , but this was some of his generosity that was making real differences in people's lives . What's maybe an experience you've had or you've seen , of someone's generosity , their over and above offering , that's really made a spiritual impact in you and Lauren's life , or maybe in one of the college students that you've led over the last couple of years .
Speaker 3Yeah , there's so many stories I'm having to filter through .
Speaker 2Did I catch you off guard ? I see I didn't prepare you for this question A little bit , but it's fine .
Speaker 3It's fine . There's been several times that generosity has just been super evident but , honestly , some of the most impactful ones that people tend to forget are the little ones . I mean , just recently my wife and I got invited to a 4th of July cookout and after we were done the host was like take food home , like just take Nice , and which I mean it's not like we're going to not eat .
Speaker 2The young married couple's leftovers are a big deal .
Speaker 3But it's not like we weren't going to not eat , but the fact that we got home from church and we're like , hey , we have leftover burgers . We don't have to cook one and two , it's free .
Speaker 2I mean you got to cook in a microwave , right , you got to warm it up , you got to nuke it , but like that's a minute and 30 , rather than me firing up the grill .
Speaker 3That's right , but like it's just the little moments of generosity that kind of stick with you , that really kind of build your paradigm , and because obviously those ginormous moments of generosity where someone just writes a check and cuts your debt in half or completely erases it , like those are few and far between and those are amazing stories . But I think the most impactful things that people can do , especially in our congregation , is there's just little moments of generosity . I think of last year when we packed grocery bags for college students .
Speaker 2Yeah that was a big . That was something new for us . That well , at least we haven't done since I've been here .
Speaker 3That might've been done before but it was a new thing and to watch college kids face just to have a bag of groceries . And I know , specifically , there was one of our college students who , you know , he's former military and his mom has had some health complications recently and so he's having to like take the load of caring for her and I mean we were able to give him like seven grocery bags just because of the generosity of our people , which is super , super cool , because he was just super thankful and that's the generosity that I'm talking about . The little moments Like we don't all have to have million dollar bank accounts . We'd love to have that and I'd love to have that as well , but I think God has not blessed me with a lot , because I'm still trying to figure out how to be faithful .
Speaker 3A but it's the small moments of generosity that really kind of add into people's lives .
Speaker 2That's big , that's big . Well , let's get real practical for our people today . Because what I know and we were talking with some of the guys that are behind the cameras and on the soundboards and stuff right now but everybody has a different paradigm and a different experience with giving and so there's a lot of people people when we talk about , we do these podcasts on Bible study and people are like , yeah , you just can't get around that truth , you know , we talk about , you know making disciples , yeah , we got to do that . You talk about giving , and people are like , oh , hit the brakes right , because their experience has maybe been diminished or they've been hurt or there's been some mistrust .
Speaker 2But really , most , all of the giving comes down to our heart , towards God , understanding he's the provider , we are the steward and the recipient of His gifts . That tithe is a starting point . That offering is over and above point . That offering is over and above . But how do we help people take the next steps of wherever they are , towards that heart of giving , not health and wealth , not prosperity , gospel , but trusting God and developing their heart to say God , thank you . And here is my trust in you to continue the mission . What are some ways that people can take steps like that .
Practical Steps for Growing in Giving
Speaker 3Yeah , Giving is one of the hardest strongholds , I think , in order to instill in the believer because , like I said earlier , we're so tied to our money , especially when the economy is not what we want it to be right , and a gallon of milk is like six bucks yeah and eggs are like $4 a dozen and you're just great , it's wonderful , but it really comes down to that .
Speaker 3Do I trust God ? We are very good at saying , yeah , we trust God to provide for our marriage , to provide for our kids , but when we look at our bank account , we are not the most able to trust God with . Hey , I don't know how we're going to make this rent payment .
Speaker 2Yeah , and so if I'm reading between the lines , we're saying step one is take a step of faith . Yeah , what we see in Malachi . I think it's the only place in scripture where God says test me , Malachi 3.10 . Yeah , like was written that you could test God on , and so I think that's powerful . We have a tool here called Financial Peace University . You've heard of this class , right , have you and Lauren taken ?
Speaker 3it , yet We've not done it . The problem is her schedule being in the hospital is absolutely crazy .
Speaker 2Yeah , the healthcare industry .
Speaker 3It's Dave Ramsey . Yes , okay , call Dave .
Speaker 2We are actually here at Concord gonna start two different classes of this , one on a Sunday , one on a Wednesday . That's Financial Peace University , and so it is , I think , one of the greatest tools that a Christian can put in their life . But here's the stigma that comes with it that anybody that signs up for a financial course it's like admitting to everybody you feel like your face is going to be on a billboard .
Speaker 3I've got money .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't have enough , I'm in debt , I don't tithe and there's this negative stigma , but I would say for anyone who actually is that you know you got credit card debt , you're upside down , you don't have the habit of giving , you're just all kinds of struggling to the people who are doing really well . This is a tool that helps young people . This past semester we saw two dads take their senior boys through it . Going boys , y'all are about to go to college . I want to show you how to manage your money . And we're talking young people , engaged , newly married people that got kids , people that are empty nesters .
Speaker 2I think that every believer ought to take some kind of financial course to learn how to best steward and step forward in generosity and disciplined giving so that they can make a bigger impact . And we've got that class starting in August , so just next month . What would you tell somebody who is afraid to sign up because they think people are gonna think differently of them , even if they're doing well ? What would you encourage college students , young marrieds like you and Lauren , families like me and my Lauren and our kids ? What would be your encouragement to people when a tool like FPU Financial Peace University is offered by Concord ?
Speaker 3My first reaction for people who are worried about other people's opinion is to kind of just say so what ? Okay , I'm kind of just say so what Okay ? I'm kind of on the side of . I don't really care what people think about me . I do in some sense .
Speaker 2So you don't care what I think about you at all .
Speaker 3I care deeply what you think about me . Patrick Lant Okay all right . Well , I was just making sure I didn't know , but in terms of like oh , that person's struggling , so what we all are Like , everybody's struggling with something .
Speaker 2Yeah , I just think it's a great way to sharpen the tools in your tool belt so that we can be better instruments for Christ . And I'll tell you , lorne and I took it early on . We made some bad financial decisions . We tried to flip a house like a year into marriage and we had some credit card stuff and I'm talking almost 20 years ago and it was in a bad way . We took this course and , man , we did that debt snowball thing . It's crazy how it works if you're just disciplined to do it .
Speaker 3But you think about it and you're like okay , that sounds simple enough , but to actually see it put into practice and then also one to have the accountability of a group of people behind you that are saying , hey , we're all in this together , we're doing this together . And actually going back to your thing about the small moments of generosity we were talking about just earlier , one of the couples in this last go-around yeah , you told me about this .
Speaker 3They actually are two of our college students . I actually just got married last weekend . They took the course together as they were walking through the engagement in wedding preparation and one of the adopted families paid for them to go through the course .
Speaker 2Dude , that's awesome , just because they're like , hey , we want you guys to be in the right spot . So the Concord adopted family of the college students paid for them and their engagement to go through this class .
Speaker 3I mean , they are investing in generations of that family tree of giving which is super cool and I would say to anybody who's watching and you want to do FPU and you're like , but I don't know how we're gonna swing that kind of money . There are people here at Concord that would love to sponsor you . I know there's so many people that have actually gone through this , and that's part of it .
Speaker 2They sow a seed for someone else to saying , hey , we're willing to put down money for someone else to go through this . Yeah , that's awesome , and there's several ways to give . At Concord We've got , you can text , you can give through the app , the bucket . We pass it every week . That's a great way . But , man , I am so thankful that you , as a young guy , are walking through this . I'm sure it's not always been easy . You've not always made the correct decision every moment , but it's a journey for you and your wife together to go as the Lord leads . We wanna
Closing Thoughts
Speaker 2be obedient , even when it's hard , and so I wanna thank you guys for listening , because I think this is something that we wanna walk beside you on , and just having this conversation has just been jet fuel for me . I hope it's been jet fuel for you and we hope you tune in next week as well . Thanks , eli .