SPEAKER_01: Morning everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to you.
SPEAKER_01: Hope you've been enjoying the uh the sun a little bit over the weekend.
SPEAKER_01: And uh welcome to you wherever you're tuning in from.
SPEAKER_01: My name's Mark.
SPEAKER_01: I'm one of the leaders at City Church, and you've joined us as we uh continue in our series in 2 Corinthians, looking at that uh passage that Ravash read for us.
SPEAKER_01: Please keep that in front of you, either on your phone or if you have a Bible nearby, grab that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are thinking over these last couple of weeks about generosity, and that's where Paul is in this letter.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, chapter eight and chapter nine are thinking about giving and what it means to be a uh a generous people and the rationale uh behind that for us as Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is the the second of really kind of a two-week study uh in these things.
SPEAKER_01: From what I've heard over this last week, in terms of your interaction with this uh last Sunday, and then again in community groups that uh you have really been wrestling with it.
SPEAKER_01: It seems like there's lots of uh thinking and reflecting going on and uh asking lots of great questions, which I hope to uh to hit a little bit later on in the talk.
SPEAKER_01: But why don't I pray for us and we're we're really going to dive right in because we have a we have a lot to to cover this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, we thank you for your uh surpassing generosity to us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you are a generous and good father, and we pray that our hearts would be harmonized uh by your love to respond to that generosity, uh, that we would reflect something of your character in how we give and bless others.
SPEAKER_01: Give us that heart by your spirit, we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: It's worth noting uh that generosity obviously doesn't just reply apply to our money, though that's the the context here, uh, but it is worth noting that generosity it's a disposition of the heart, right?
SPEAKER_01: That impacts every area.
SPEAKER_01: It impacts how you use your home, how open is your home?
SPEAKER_01: Uh it impacts how you use your time, how you view other people's uh use of your time.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see it as an infringement upon it, or is it something that you uh give willingly?
SPEAKER_01: Or indeed the the gifts that God has given you, your talents, your abilities.
SPEAKER_01: Are you particularly skilled in an area?
SPEAKER_01: And do you use that for your exclusively for your own good?
SPEAKER_01: Do you use it for the good of others?
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a heart thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just about our money, it's about our our time, our talents, and our treasure, if you want to think about it in that sort of way.
SPEAKER_01: The opposite of generosity, uh, we noted last week was greed, and greed is often motivated by resentment.
SPEAKER_01: A person might give, but they give resentfully, they give begrudgingly.
SPEAKER_01: You might let a person uh dominate your time, but you do so begrudgingly, or you might serve others, but you do so because you simply know that it's your duty, it is not at all your your desire.
SPEAKER_01: It is easy to slip into this way of thinking when we think that what we have been given our time, our talent, our treasure, when we think that those things are ours for our own exclusive use.
SPEAKER_01: But it is much more that we as human beings are stewards, stewards of things that God has given to us in trust.
SPEAKER_01: We're stewards of our mind and our intellect, the ways that we think.
SPEAKER_01: We are stewards of our of our hands and the abilities that that he has given us.
SPEAKER_01: We are stewards of the time that he has allotted to us.
SPEAKER_01: We are stewards of the money that he has given to us.
SPEAKER_01: When you don't see yourself as uh as the king, the possessor, but as a steward, then one of the things that you realize is that it's all just kind of passing through your hand anyway.
SPEAKER_01: And that you must give an account for the way that you have used your time, your talents, and your treasures.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, isn't Jesus always talking about that in the Gospels?
SPEAKER_01: About using one's time, using one's talents, using one's money in a wise way.
SPEAKER_01: And what is a wise way?
SPEAKER_01: It is a way that has eternity in focus.
SPEAKER_01: Eternity as the surpassing value.
SPEAKER_01: It is the fool who builds bigger barns, not because bigger barns are bad in and of themselves, it's not bad to grow wealth, but because he thought that his life was his own.
SPEAKER_01: Uh God comes to him and says, You fool, you fool tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Your soul is demanded of you.
SPEAKER_00: God is the ultimate generous giver, and we cannot outgive him.
SPEAKER_01: He has given us everything in trust, our material possessions, our bank balances, our time and abilities.
SPEAKER_01: Does this mean that we cannot enjoy those things?
SPEAKER_01: No, he's a generous giver, he's given them to us for our enjoyment.
SPEAKER_01: Is it raw?
SPEAKER_01: You know, do you need to suddenly kind of switch into living some sort of brutally ascetic lifestyle where you you know eschew all uh all property and uh and physical things?
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not at all what we're what we're calling you to, what the gospel is calling us to.
SPEAKER_01: No, we were able to take pleasure in the things that God has given us, but God encourages us not to fall in love with them, not to make them the source of our security, not to make them the source of our identity or our value in the world.
SPEAKER_01: He calls us rather to hold loosely to these things and to cultivate generosity.
SPEAKER_01: That is what these passages are about.
SPEAKER_01: Now I cannot hope to hit every particular nuance and scenario of all of the questions that you might have, but I am going to try and hit a lot and at least lay out some principles that we might be able to think through.
SPEAKER_01: But remember that Paul is emphasizing that this is something that we all need to examine about ourselves and to be open to the Lord's leading with regards to our generosity.
SPEAKER_01: So let's begin with the first question.
SPEAKER_01: How should you give?
SPEAKER_01: Before we get to how much, how should you give?
SPEAKER_01: What should be the manner of your giving?
SPEAKER_01: What should be the attitude that you have?
SPEAKER_01: And Paul helps us here.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're not talking about uh begrudgery or doing it resentfully.
SPEAKER_01: Paul helps us uh cast your eye down to verse five.
SPEAKER_01: He says, So I thought it necessary to urge you brothers to go on, sorry, to urge the brothers to go on ahead of you and arrange in advance the gift that you had promised, so that everyone uh would may be ready, sorry, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an extraction, as a willing gift.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the scenario that we noted last week.
SPEAKER_01: There's a famine going on in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: These guys are in Greece, and so there's a famine some distance away, and there is a collection being taken up by the churches to help those Christians, those brothers and sisters who are starving in Jerusalem and Judea.
SPEAKER_01: And the Corinthians had made big promises that Paul references in chapter eight, and he's encouraging them to make good on those intentions, and so he's sending uh folks ahead of him so that they wouldn't be embarrassed by kind of going, oh um, left my left my wallet at home.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying want to be prepared in doing this.
SPEAKER_00: He encourages preparedness and willingness to make the the right preparations.
SPEAKER_01: That is, that their giving should be an item that they've thought through, not an afterthought, uh, an item in the budget, and that you've taken the necessary steps to be prepared to give.
SPEAKER_01: Connect that with what he says in verse 7: each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_01: Taking these two verses together, what should our giving be?
SPEAKER_01: Well, our giving should be thought through.
SPEAKER_01: You should give it some reflection time.
SPEAKER_01: How much can I give?
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for me?
SPEAKER_01: What does sacrificial generosity?
SPEAKER_01: And we will go on to look at that again.
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for me?
SPEAKER_00: And then be prepared to give, take the necessary steps.
SPEAKER_01: It's something you talk about with your with your spouse as you put together your budget for the uh for the month, and it's something that you prepare to do.
SPEAKER_01: Elsewhere, in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he also talks about giving right at the end in chapter 16, the last chapter of that book.
SPEAKER_01: And what he encourages them to do there is uh to give a regular gift, that it is a regular prepared thing.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I say you should talk about it in terms of your monthly budget.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us live month by month, though some of us uh uh on more regular intervals.
SPEAKER_01: But let's just say you think month by month.
SPEAKER_01: You think, well, okay, well, what is our what is our giving?
SPEAKER_01: If we have a stable uh top number income, what is our sacrificial giving that we can give regularly?
SPEAKER_01: Paul in that first Corinthians passage encourages them that when they come together on the first day of the week, that each person sets aside something to be given as the as the gift for the work of uh the the ministry and for the relief of need.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll go on to think about that a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01: The first day of the week, the idea being, you know, if they got they got paid on the on the last day of the week, on on Friday, Sunday being the first day of the week, then they're coming together top of the month, as it were.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the reserve that's left over, it's stuff that is giving first first and foremost.
SPEAKER_01: It is not an occasional afterthought.
SPEAKER_01: Taken together in terms of thinking about our attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Paul says in these two chapters he encourages you to have an attitude of joyful, willing, regular, sacrificial giving.
SPEAKER_01: Joyful, willing, regular, sacrificial?
SPEAKER_00: That is how our giving should be.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it is a response to God's own generosity, and it is a blessing to those around you.
SPEAKER_01: Does this mean does this mean that if you feel no joy in it, that you shouldn't give?
SPEAKER_01: Well, sadly not, uh, because if we simply didn't do those things that we didn't feel like doing or didn't want to do, then our discipleship would be very difficult indeed.
SPEAKER_01: No, we are encouraged to give uh regardless of our cheer in giving.
SPEAKER_01: But if that is you, if you're sitting here watching this this morning, you think, right, fine, I'll give, but don't ask me to enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps I would encourage you uh towards two things very practically.
SPEAKER_01: The first would be to give and to reflect, maybe even to make a list of the things that God has done for you, given you, the times that He has seen you through, reflect on His generosity to you as a motivator for your own generosity.
SPEAKER_01: That would be the first thing that I would say.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that I would say is give and observe.
SPEAKER_01: Give generously and look.
SPEAKER_01: Look to see how God uses that generosity, how he grows the ministries around you, how he blesses the lives of the people who are impacted by your giving.
SPEAKER_01: So that may mean that you give quite close to home, or you give it a way that is observable.
SPEAKER_01: Give and reflect, give and observe, and pray that God would stir joy in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: That is the attitude of our giving.
SPEAKER_01: Joyful, regular, willing, sacrificial.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we come to the question, I suppose, and that is the question of how much how much should we give?
SPEAKER_01: Here we're looking at uh verses six to ten.
SPEAKER_01: Have a look simply at verse six.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to come to this in a second.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the point is whoever reaps sparingly will also sorry, whoever sows sparingly, apparently I can't read today, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
SPEAKER_01: The question also uh or often comes up about the idea of tithing.
SPEAKER_01: Tithe is uh it comes from the old uh Hebrew and Semitic word for a tenth, and the idea of giving 10%, the first 10% of your income is set aside and is dedicated to to God.
SPEAKER_01: And so some Christians say, well, you should tithe.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you've grown up uh thinking that, practicing that.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what we teach at City Church?
SPEAKER_01: Do we teach the tithe?
SPEAKER_01: Is that what the New Testament teaches?
SPEAKER_01: Does it teach 10%?
SPEAKER_01: I think the answer to both of those questions is most likely no.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't teach that every person should give 10%.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that the tithe is something that carries over into new covenant living, that is the uh the covenant, the promise that we were under uh on it by virtue of our faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The tithe uh was given to support the Levitical priesthood.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need to go into detail, but uh the the Levites, they were the priestly tribe, they didn't have any land, they didn't have any inheritance in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so what happened was uh that everybody contributed so that the priests could live.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't have any Levitical priesthood in the uh in the New Testament church, they were done away with by the uh surpassing priesthood of the Lord Jesus, and so there is no priestly class in that sense uh in order to support.
SPEAKER_01: To say nothing of the fact that if you actually add up the tithe uh in the Old Testament, given the different feast days and festivals, that really what happens is that a a person's uh gift is far closer to around about 23% uh of a uh of a person's income.
SPEAKER_01: As I noted last week, the average that a person gives apparently is around about 2.5 percent.
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to 10x your giving?
SPEAKER_01: Probably not, though maybe some of you should consider it.
SPEAKER_01: However, it is worth just simply noting that while it is not a law, a command, you must give a tenth.
SPEAKER_01: The tithe is a very good guide.
SPEAKER_01: The tithe is a very good uh and helpful instruction.
SPEAKER_01: Some people I was chatting to this week simply decided very early on in their life together that they would give a tenth of whatever it is that they were uh they were earning.
SPEAKER_01: The idea being that as their income grew, uh that it wouldn't be so much of a shock to go from 2% to 10%.
SPEAKER_01: And that could be a very good guide.
SPEAKER_01: It is also true that probably upon mature and uh and considered reflection, most of us, though I will readily admit not all, most of us probably could uh trim back in order to be able to give a tenth.
SPEAKER_01: We could live on 10% less.
SPEAKER_01: That is not a command, it is a guide.
SPEAKER_01: Paul earlier on in chapter 8, so you know, chapter 8, verse 8, he says, I say this not as a command, or in verse 7 he says, Each of you must decide what to give in his own heart.
SPEAKER_01: It is something between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: But the principle, as we saw from the Macedonians, is sacrificial generous sacrificial generosity.
SPEAKER_01: This is not to say that you go, you know, some months without paying the electricity bill, or that oh well, we're uh we're not going to have internet for the month of May, and we're going to give that away, or uh, we're going to default on our mortgage payment and so that we can give that's not it's not sacrificial, but sacrificial is how often uh do we eat out?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I know that nobody eats out right now, but um in normal time you might think, well, how often do I eat out, or how often do I get takeaway?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll forego that, maybe I'll trim that down by by half.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna set that money aside.
SPEAKER_01: You think, how often do I buy a new gadget that I love?
SPEAKER_01: How often do I buy a new game that I desire?
SPEAKER_01: But maybe sacrificially for you is to say, do you know what?
SPEAKER_01: If I buy X number of gadgets over the year, X number of games over the year, I'm gonna reduce that by 33%.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna reduce that by 50%.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever the uh the spend on that, average it out, would would have been.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put this to one side.
SPEAKER_01: So that you know that it's got it is a sacrifice for you.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul here in verse six, he goes a little bit further and uses this principle of sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_01: Now that may acknowledge straight away that I am not wearing a white suit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I do not have a little ticker number up along the bottom of the screen, uh, offering you uh handkerchiefs and and things like that that I could sell to you for a swift donation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, all donations are gratefully received through the City Church website, but that's not what I am doing this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Christians, Christian preachers or professing Christian preachers and televangelists have used verses like this to shamefully manipulate vulnerable people uh out of their money.
SPEAKER_01: So, what does this verse mean?
SPEAKER_01: The reason why those prosperity preachers use verses like this is because they wrongly think that what this verse is talking about is a one-to-one transaction between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: They think the prosperity preacher thinks that it is I give in order that I can get, I sow so that I can reap.
SPEAKER_01: The end.
SPEAKER_01: I give this to God, God gives more back to me.
SPEAKER_01: End of a single transaction.
SPEAKER_01: But that is not what these verses are about.
SPEAKER_01: Rather, they are an encouragement to us in a couple of ways.
SPEAKER_01: First, let's simply note that what Paul is saying here is that when you give, you don't give into the void, you don't give into some endless pit, you give, and God has built in this rhythm into the very fabulous.
SPEAKER_01: Of reality of giving and return, of sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he uses this analogy.
SPEAKER_01: The idea being that there is a return that happens on your investment.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just uh Marcus told me that I have to give, never going to see the benefit of that money again, but you know, got to do what I gotta do.
SPEAKER_01: No, Paul is the Paul's encouraging.
SPEAKER_01: Say, look, there's gonna be a harvest, there's gonna be a reap here.
SPEAKER_01: And so you don't just give into the void, it will realize a return.
SPEAKER_01: That is encouraging, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: That return may then further enable more giving.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where the prosperity guys are wrong, wickedly wrong, because they think that it is simply just about you and God.
SPEAKER_01: You give in order to get from him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pay in my hundred euro and from God I'm going to get back 170 euro.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna reap more.
SPEAKER_00: And then you high tail it off with your 70 euro profit.
SPEAKER_00: But that is not what these verses are about.
SPEAKER_00: The transaction is not one-to-one.
SPEAKER_01: The transaction, rather, is that you give in order to get, in order to give further.
SPEAKER_01: Personal wealth is never an end in itself.
SPEAKER_01: When personal wealth becomes an end in itself, that's when we fall in love with it.
SPEAKER_01: That's when it corrupts us.
SPEAKER_01: That's when we fall into the temptation and snare of the rich young man whose identity and security was found in his wealth.
SPEAKER_01: No, God increases personal wealth in order to increase personal generosity.
SPEAKER_01: This verse is encouraging us that if God stirs in your heart to give generously, selflessly, that he will supply that need and increase your ability to be even more generous.
SPEAKER_01: It's not you as an end of yourself, it's you as a conduit to bless others.
SPEAKER_01: This verse is not about becoming rich, it's about becoming a greater blessing.
SPEAKER_01: If you drip feed your generosity out to others, God will drip feed into you your supply.
SPEAKER_01: If you freely and joyfully and sacrificially give, God will more abundantly supply.
SPEAKER_00: How will he do this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it may well be through miraculous means.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, many of us in City Church can tell the stories of being so stirred to give and wanting to support a need, but not having the means, and an envelope has dropped on the on the doormat.
SPEAKER_01: That has happened, it does happen.
SPEAKER_01: But I think perhaps more often the way God does this is by changing you.
SPEAKER_01: That if God stirs in your heart abundant generosity, it changes you, it changes your priorities, it changes your value system.
SPEAKER_01: It makes you look at all of the things that you have and all of the things that you buy and think, I don't need that.
SPEAKER_01: I could give that away too.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to to buy that.
SPEAKER_00: I could buy own brand and and save the money.
SPEAKER_00: And I could give that away.
SPEAKER_00: It also changes you so that people look at you differently.
SPEAKER_01: It'll change how you work.
SPEAKER_01: This is why generosity is such a good thing, is because people want to be around generous people.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't just command you to be generous because he wants to take your stuff, God commands and encourages generosity because generosity is good for you, it is good for those around you.
SPEAKER_00: Those around you see it.
SPEAKER_00: Employers, team leaders will see the disposition of your heart.
SPEAKER_01: And so it may cause your advancement, and that might be the means by which God actually drip feeds or begins to pour more abundantly into you so that you can be more generous.
SPEAKER_01: There's a story of uh the evangelist George uh Wesley and uh or George Whitfield rather, and Whitfield was on an annual income or saw that his expenses were 28 pounds, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is back in the um in the the late 18th century.
SPEAKER_01: And he saw that his uh his annual expenses were 28 pounds, and his uh his income was 30 pounds when he first started out.
SPEAKER_01: So he gave away uh the two pounds extra.
SPEAKER_01: Over the course of time his income grew.
SPEAKER_01: His expenses stayed the same.
SPEAKER_01: He lived on those 28 pounds, and when his uh when his annual income was 50 pounds, he gave away uh 22 pounds, and so it increased in terms of how much God encourages honest reflection with him, be settled in your own conscience as to what that should look like, and he encourages sacrificial generosity, trusting in his provision.
SPEAKER_01: Third, what should you give to?
SPEAKER_01: Is one of the questions that came up in the community groups this week.
SPEAKER_01: What should you give to?
SPEAKER_01: Well, at one level, there's an endless amount of charities that and needs that you can give to.
SPEAKER_01: So how can you decide?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you two principles for reflecting on how you decide what you should give to.
SPEAKER_01: First, give to relieve a need.
SPEAKER_01: Second, give to promote God's rule.
SPEAKER_01: Relieve a need, promote God's rule.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes those things are the same thing, sometimes they go hand in hand, sometimes they're quite different.
SPEAKER_01: But one of the questions that you might ask yourself is is this relieving a need?
SPEAKER_01: Andor is this promoting the advance of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Is this enabling more ministry to happen?
SPEAKER_01: In the context of this passage, there's very obviously a uh a relief going on, there is a need, and it is happening.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the need is being relieved of other believers, and there's a primacy there within uh within scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says elsewhere in the book of Galatians, uh, to do good to all, especially those of the household of faith.
SPEAKER_01: There is a a primacy to the to the relieving of needs of brothers and sisters, but there's no sense that that should be your exclusive giving.
SPEAKER_01: Do good to all, especially those of the household of faith.
SPEAKER_01: There is also a sense in scripture that the primary focus for our giving uh should be the local church.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we noted just beforehand that uh Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16 that when they gather together in the local church, there should be a setting aside of the of a proportion of their income, that there should be a free and willing gift done there.
SPEAKER_01: The local church is the primary place of our your worship.
SPEAKER_01: We follow Jesus together in community, we worship Jesus with all that we have together, and so giving is part of that.
SPEAKER_01: It also means that you are supplying the needs of furthering God's kingdom in the place that God has placed you, and that way you can see it and participate in it.
SPEAKER_01: And also, local churches have local church leadership, those men who are above reproach, who have been set aside for the work of ministry, and who have been placed in these offices in order to be able to discern needs and to allocate the collective resources accordingly.
SPEAKER_01: In that way, the allocation of our collective resources does more good, perhaps, than individual gifts that are that are more uh diffuse, spread out more thinly across uh across multiple needs that we have discerned ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: At City Church, we give to relieve need and to further gospel ministry.
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like practically?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we have a we have a mercy fund that when somebody in our church is struggling, say there's been a an issue, something very practical practical that needs to be sorted, then there is a fund that the elders administrate very discreetly in order to meet those needs.
SPEAKER_01: And we allocate a certain number uh to that fund every year.
SPEAKER_01: It's a line item in the budget, as it were, and so we give to relieve the needs of our family, because that's what family does.
SPEAKER_01: We also support the advancement of gospel work, we support Christian Unions Ireland, because we know that many of you here are students, and we know the work that God does on campuses and changing people's hearts.
SPEAKER_01: That is when people are exploring and asking the big the great questions of life, and so we want to enable and facilitate that ministry.
SPEAKER_01: We also give to church and chains, those brothers and sisters across the world who are persecuted for their faith in many different countries and contexts.
SPEAKER_01: We give to support them.
SPEAKER_01: We also give to further church planting here in Ireland.
SPEAKER_01: That is why we support the Pollock family in Loch Ray.
SPEAKER_01: We are seeking the promotion of God's rule, and let me be frank, it is the relief of a need.
SPEAKER_01: At Christmas time, we raised three times the uh the amount that we had set for the Dublin Rape Crisis Center, and so in various ways, we have sought also to be a blessing to those outside of the household of faith.
SPEAKER_01: If you are part of City Church and you do not give to the work of City Church, can I please encourage you to reconsider that prayerfully, sacrificially, and willingly?
SPEAKER_01: It is now easier than ever to give via our new website.
SPEAKER_01: Could I encourage you to log on and to click onto the giving tab?
SPEAKER_01: You can set up a regular gift there in around about three minutes.
SPEAKER_01: In terms of financial accountability, we mentioned last week about the importance of integrity.
SPEAKER_01: This is part of the reason why we are establishing membership.
SPEAKER_01: Our first round of membership applications will close in the next little while, and we will process the final interviews for membership with the view that our members will get regular financial reports.
SPEAKER_01: We hope to have members' meetings where people see what money's coming in, what money's going out, and where it's going.
SPEAKER_01: And we can answer questions with regards to that.
SPEAKER_01: There is no sleight of hand here.
SPEAKER_01: Like I have said before, I am very willing to answer any questions around the finances of City Church.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we give?
SPEAKER_01: Well, last week we saw that it was a response to God's generosity to us in Jesus, and that for sure is the ultimate rationale.
SPEAKER_01: We give to relieve need, we relieve, we give to preserve life and to further gospel mission.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul in this passage gives us just two other reasons why we give.
SPEAKER_01: It causes others to look upon the generosity of his people.
SPEAKER_01: It commands the gospel to outsiders.
SPEAKER_01: They are a generous people, they go above and beyond for the good of others, it brings glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: And why else?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Because it reflects as a blessing on you.
SPEAKER_01: People thank God for you when you give.
SPEAKER_01: This is part of the reaping, also, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: You certainly reap new means of being generous, and you reap a heart that is soft to the needs of others, that is weaned off an addiction to stuff, but you also reap a life that is prayed for, a life that is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: That is what you reap.
SPEAKER_01: That's far better than the red campaign.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the red campaign?
SPEAKER_01: You go into Starbucks, and uh, or lots of other like Apple did this as well, and you you ordered your your Starbucks uh coffee and uh whatever you paid, you know, it's like 47 euro or whatever for a latte, and five cents of that went to the red campaign.
SPEAKER_01: And you you got that.
SPEAKER_01: What you got really was not the giving of the five cents, but there was the sense of self-satisfaction that you had uh done some done some good, done some charity uh by virtue of uh of buying a uh a latte.
SPEAKER_01: How much better here you give and what you receive is thanksgiving and blessing and people praying for you, thanking God that He has so worked in your heart to stir generosity.
SPEAKER_01: A couple of final questions as we uh begin to conclude.
SPEAKER_01: Uh these came up um over the course of this last week, and they're around.
SPEAKER_01: The first question is really, is it okay to save or invest?
SPEAKER_01: And the second question is, well, what do you do if you have debt?
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at the the first question.
SPEAKER_01: Is it okay to save or invest?
SPEAKER_01: The simple answer is yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it is a right and good thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we are not uh we are creatures who delay cratification.
SPEAKER_01: We are not creatures that that eat the whole wildebeest, as it were.
SPEAKER_01: We take some of it and we salt it, we cure it, we put it aside for when we well for when we need it.
SPEAKER_01: And so it would be uh be weird for uh for the teaching here to be something like go go against all the that that that is by your nature, by being an image bearer of God, then you only live from hand to mouth, day to day.
SPEAKER_01: No, there is lots in the Bible to commend saving, investing, and being prudent with money.
SPEAKER_01: Think of Jesus again, the parable of the talents of Proverbs 21, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: It commends diligence with material wealth, it commends prudence with money rather than just to spend in haste.
SPEAKER_01: It is good and right to prepare for one's future, and so it's worth thinking that through, researching that, getting counsel in terms of the best way to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You might pick up a book by somebody like Dave Ramsay, who, though writing in American context, give gives lots of uh good resources and principles for thinking through uh how to be debt-free and how to invest for the future.
SPEAKER_01: It may well be that you realize, and and certainly this is my opinion on the matter, that simply putting money into a savings account isn't always the best way to prepare for the future because save money devalues over time.
SPEAKER_01: And so you want to uh to put your money in a place that appreciates uh with uh with the rise of inflation.
SPEAKER_01: Putting money into a savings account solely is a little bit like putting an ice cube out in the sun, just begins to melt.
SPEAKER_01: Um, whereas if you are investing in something like a uh like an index fund or something like that, anyway, you can do your research on that.
SPEAKER_01: But that is being prudent.
SPEAKER_01: But the warning here is the same warning all the way through.
SPEAKER_01: You could be somebody who saves and invests, and you do it out of love of others, you do it so that you will be more generous in the future, or you can do it solely for yourself and for the increase of your own wealth, the increase of your own investment portfolio.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the heart matters.
SPEAKER_00: What about debt?
SPEAKER_01: What if you are in debt?
SPEAKER_01: Most of us at some point in our life, or indeed now, are c uh have carried or are carrying uh some debt, and it is certainly something that you should prioritize uh paying off over time.
SPEAKER_01: If you are watching this this morning and you are drowning in debt, you cannot you cannot see a way clear beyond the the financial concerns that you have.
SPEAKER_01: Can I encourage you to reach out and speak with someone to reach out to me or one of the elders to speak with an organization such as CAP that's Christians against poverty, they can help you, they can help you manage your debt, we can help you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not feel like you are alone in this.
SPEAKER_01: In both of these scenarios, saving and having debt, it leads you to kind of asking the question of should I suspend my giving while I make these payments or while I'm investing for the future?
SPEAKER_01: My encouragement here, broadly speaking, is to say no, you should in some level, in some way, continue to give.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because giving is good for you, it is good for you to learn generosity, generosity towards others is a response to God for every follower of Jesus, it is good for you to build that muscle, as it were, to walk that road of discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: No, and that might mean doing it in a very small way if you are in significant debt.
SPEAKER_01: But it is good to learn it, it is good to cultivate dependence.
SPEAKER_01: It also encourages you, encourages all of us to examine our outgoings honestly and to see where it is that we can give.
SPEAKER_01: If you are married, and this is something that causes tension in your life, it is something that you need to speak honestly and dispassionately with your spouse about.
SPEAKER_01: Money causes conflict where there is distrust of the other, where there is selfishness within the marriage dynamic.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody just spends money without consultation.
SPEAKER_01: Or where there are unrealistic and unmet expectations.
SPEAKER_01: Those need to be discussed and hashed out, and maybe they need to be done in the context of an elder family, an elder and his wife sitting down with you and talking these things through so that we can help you to make progress in this area.
SPEAKER_00: Let's conclude.
SPEAKER_01: Let's conclude where Paul does in verse 15 with this note of thanksgiving where Paul says, Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.
SPEAKER_01: God has lavished his grace upon us in the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He is the one ultimately who makes our hearts generous.
SPEAKER_01: He is the one who has set us free to live for him and with our whole lives to worship him, with our time, our talent, and our treasure.
SPEAKER_01: This is the start and end of our lives as disciples of Jesus, to live for his praise, to long that honor and blessing and glory would be brought to him.
SPEAKER_01: Each of us will do that in different ways.
SPEAKER_01: Each of us has different means, different commitments, different talents.
SPEAKER_01: But we all have the same mission.
SPEAKER_01: Let us together live generously for the good of others and for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that the Lord will give you wisdom as you think through how this applies to you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I ask that you would give that Holy Spirit-enabled wisdom to us all now to reflect upon these things to help us to be a generous and um outgoing, other person-centered people.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to think through uh with clarity, dispassionately, the ways that we can be a blessing to others.
SPEAKER_01: And would you use that for the relief of need and for the furthering of your kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: By our generous hearts, would you commend Jesus to others through us?
SPEAKER_01: Would they see the joy and goodness of not living for ourselves, but living for you and for those around us?
SPEAKER_00: We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen, everyone.