So by the time I was 12 years old, I was cutting five lawns a week at$20 a pop.
So making$100 a week during springtime and summertime.
And I loved it.
The work was okay, but I loved the money.
And I would get all my money and I would put it in an envelope, and then I would put that envelope inside of a box, and then I would get that box and I would push it to the very back underneath my really sweet 1980s waterbed.
And that's where it would stay.
Sometimes I would loan money out to my mom when she didn't have any cash, and she would say, Hey, Russ, can I borrow$40?
And I would reach way back in there and I'd pull it out and I would take out the$40 and I would loan it to her, and I would write on the envelope the date and the loan out, like a little like a little ledger, a little businessman.
And now what I love to do is I love to get that little box out and count all the money.
I love doing that.
Which was interesting because I always knew how much money was in there to start, but I still love to do it.
And I would just do it randomly all the time.
So the question is, is why?
Why did I love counting that money so much?
I already knew how much money was in there, and I would count it again and I would count it again.
Well, because that money was mine.
And that money was going to get me something that I wanted.
This is the good of capitalism, right?
Like working to earn, to be able to provide for yourself and buy something, to have a society of producers and not drainers, that's a good thing.
But there was also part of it for me, the same part that still loves to count my money, where it shifts, money shifts from being a tool for you in this world and actually becomes a world of its own.
And this is a very dark world.
This is a dark world of toil, of accumulating and consuming and collecting as to feel worthy.
And the problem with that is the moment you don't have it or you begin to lose it, then who are you?
And so that's where we get this story in Acts chapter 4 that Jill read for us, Acts chapter 4, 32 through 37.
This group of people that says in verse 32 who believed and were of one heart and soul.
So this incredible unity, and then we read how they're selling their stuff and they're providing for anybody who has need.
So just to review, this group of people, this is a group of people that before this they were sort of huddled up in fear, and then all of a sudden, post-resurrection of Jesus, this shift happens, and this very fearful group of people becomes really fearless.
And then they become very united because it's very clear what happened and what their lives are going to be about from then on.
And they become very fearless, they become united and they become generous.
So, how are these people so free?
How are they so generous?
And what can we learn from this passage about the money in our lives?
So, a few points.
Point number one, you will always give generously toward that which is your God.
You will always give generously and freely toward that which is your God.
If your worth and your wholeness is in your status and your looks, then you'll spend more and more on materials, more to cover yourself and surround yourself to give that image off to the world.
If your worth and wholeness comes from feeling in control and safe, then you'll overly pour money into investments while your family and your community suffers.
Right?
It's easy to know your functional God.
All you have to do is track your money.
And listen, this isn't about giving money to our church.
I'm gonna go ahead and clear the deck right now.
This isn't about giving money to our church, right?
There's no dues to come here.
Nobody's tracking your giving.
I'm not showing up at your house.
You're not getting an email from me to remind you of something.
Like, that's not what this is.
This is about your freedom.
This is about your freedom to become a steward of money, where money is not your wholeness, your salvation, your worth, your importance.
But rather, you're just a steward of it.
So, what did these people know to do something like this, where they're just so generous?
Well, first we have to understand this isn't about us reproducing their economic structure.
Right?
It's not like, oh, well, this is what the church is supposed to be.
We're all supposed to sell everything we have, and that's what another.
This is a spontaneous structure that popped up in their community at this time.
Now, what the question is is what is the heart behind this?
Like, what's going on in these people that they would be so free as to be able to do this?
What is that heart?
That is that free from money.
Point number two.
You will be entrapped by money or you will be free to use money.
You're gonna be one or the other.
I will be one or the other.
And sometimes it's day to day, right?
It's not like all of a sudden we reach the pinnacle of having this figured out.
But we will at any moment, we will either be entrapped by money, consumed by it, the anxiety of it, the fear of it, too much, too little, how to spend it, how to save it, not having enough, or we'll be free to use money.
See, it's possible that you'll have more than you need.
And you can live in great anxiety of how to spend it, where to invest it, who to give it to.
There's a lot of anxiety there.
And to that, most of us say, give me that problem.
I would love that problem.
That's a great problem.
But that's a real problem.
Some people have that problem.
There's a lot of anxiety there, that's a real thing.
But also, if you think you have too little, you can live in just incredible constant anxiety, thinking if you just get a little more, like all the research says, that all of us, all of us would say, just 20% more.
And then I'll be okay.
Then my anxiety, my stress level, then it will lessen, just 20% more.
That would be the breathing room I need.
See, either way, too much, too little, either way, if you think you have too much, you think you have too little, money has you by the throat.
Every week my girls do their chores, they get a$5 allowance.
That's a good deal because they're just little and they ain't doing a lot.
So it's a good deal for them.
But it gives us a lot of leverage over them.
At any point, I can leverage that allowance to get them to do pretty much anything around the house.
It's fantastic.
And it gives us a chance to teach them a little bit about money.
And so we come into the kitchen Sunday evening, and I get a whole bunch of$1 bills, and I count out four$1 bills onto the counter, and then I count out four quarters, five dollars.
And they look at it and they love all of it.
They love all five dollars of it.
Of course they love all of it.
But if you hold on to all of it, it truly has a hold of you.
And how do you know it doesn't have a hold on you unless you are releasing some of it in generosity?
So then I say to them, what do you do first?
And they say, we give first.
And they take 50 cents and they set it aside.
And then I say, What do you do second?
And they say, Wait, save.
And they take the other 50 cents and they put it in a jar, and then I, like a corny dad, I say, and when you save money, you make money.
And I take another 50 cents and I put it in that jar to match their 50 cents.
And I always make sure I say the little corny.
Right?
Amen savers?
Anybody savers?
Dave Ramsey fans?
Clark Howard?
Yellow amen.
Okay.
And then I say, there's four dollars still on the counter.
And then I say, and now what do you do with the rest of the money?
And they say, I get to spend it.
Amen spenders?
Everybody, that was the that was the part you're you're waiting for it.
You're just worried about how far it was going to go, right?
Like$2?
It'll be$2 left.
No.
There was$4 left.
Now in Mark chapter 10, there's a man who runs up to Jesus.
He runs up to Jesus and he says, Hey, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
What makes me good with you?
And Jesus answers, hey, you know the rules.
Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't defraud.
Honor your father and mother.
And the guy replies, hey, I've done all that.
I have done all of that.
Which, right away, this is a wealthy guy, but we know he's not really self-aware, right?
He has no idea that he would need grace because right away his response is like, I'm really great.
I'm really good at this stuff.
Like, I've got my act together.
There's just no way.
There's no possible way the guy grew up and never dishonored his parents or lied or stole.
So like he's way off base.
And then the text says in Mark 10, verse 21, and Jesus looking at him, loved him.
And this is very important because the love is given before the test.
The love was there from the beginning.
Jesus loved the guy from the beginning.
It had nothing to do with his reaction to what Jesus is about to say.
And then Jesus says to him, Hey, you lack one thing.
Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
He'd come follow me.
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And I would add, perhaps, the possessions had him.
Now this story is not about earning Jesus' love, because the love was there from the beginning.
The text says that.
So that's not what this is, it's already there.
And this is not about selling everything you have.
That's not the lesson here.
And probably Jesus in this lesson, who knows how he would have responded, but it's possible if the guy said, Hey, sure, I'll sell it all.
I get it.
Like, like you are my wealth.
I get it.
You are my worth.
You are my eternal life.
You make me right with God.
I get it.
I'm selling it all.
It's very possible Jesus said, hey, never mind.
You're good.
Just do good with your money.
You can keep it.
I was just checking out.
That's possible.
What is clear here is that Jesus is saying, beloved child, you have everything.
And because you grip it so tightly, you have nothing.
Point number three, grace changes our relationship with money.
God's grace to us is that we are already accepted.
We already have everything we need in Jesus.
All the worth we're looking for out of money, we already have it in God's grace to us if we begin to go there for it.
All of the redemption, all the movement out of shame, all the acceptance, all the absolution, all that we're really craving for, looking for money to do for us, all of that we really already have in Jesus.
That's what the cross is about.
This is why these people were preaching Christ is salvation.
A few weeks ago we talked about that means Christ is your wholeness.
Your rightness with God, that your sin was put upon the cross, his righteousness is put upon you.
You are securely the beloved of God now and forevermore, and that was given to you as an identity.
And money can never do that.
It never has.
Point number four, sort of a subpoint of point number three.
Grace transforms our generosity from guilty last-minute giving to joyful, intentional generosity.
And here's what I mean by this.
As you become free from money, you begin to ask yourself at the beginning of the paycheck, how and where do we get the privilege to give?
And then you save some, and then you spend some.
You live on the leftover.
Now maybe you would ask, well, what where should I give?
Like, should I give it all to the church?
Are we talking like pre-tax?
Are we talking post-tax?
I don't know.
That's for you to work out with the Lord.
That's for you to discover in your prayer life.
I think you should support the church you go to.
I mean, you're going to that church.
I believe a 10% tithe is a good guide, a good principle, but it's not the goal.
The goal is generosity.
Like these people had a heart of generosity, joyful, spirit-led giving.
We attended my friend Kim's funeral yesterday.
She died 13 days ago at the age of 39 in a paragliding accident in the Western Valley of Kenya.
She had lived in Kenya for the past 14 years.
She ran a camp there.
She helped nonprofits there.
She became very influential there.
She always had an adventure.
She lived more, truly lived more and saw more in 39 years than most of us will in 80.
And they talked about her adventures and they talked about her love and they talked about her generosity.
And they never once talked about what she owned, and they never once talked about her net worth.
As a pastor, it's my job to remind you you're gonna die.
That's one of my jobs, to keep death in front of you.
Because that's where we're all headed.
And in the light of death, some of the stuff we think is so important to get.
It just doesn't matter.
What will matter is the adventures you have, the love you receive and give, and the generosity you share.
Maybe you're here, you've been frustrated the past 20 minutes because you haven't been to church in five years or 20 years, and this guy gets up and he talks about money.
Of course, of course, he gets up and talks about money because that's what they talk about at church.
And I want to be really, really clear for all of us.
We will always talk about money.
It's just too important to not talk about.
We won't talk about it every week.
We'll just talk about it when we need to talk about it.
But it's too important, it's too big a part of your life to not talk about.
And this can be a touchy subject.
And the reason why it's touchy to us, and it's touchy to me, is because it is a threat to the thing that we use to feel worthy and important and secure.
But do you see the power money can have over you?
That you need it more, and then you need more and more and more and more, unless you become free of that system.
And do you see that Jesus comes to this greedy, rich man and loves him from the beginning?
And that was news I needed to hear this week because I am a very greedy person.
And I love control, and that's why I love to get my money out, and I love to count it because it makes me feel in control.
But that love that's unconditioned upon my greedy, stingy heart, that love that gives me worth before my reactions or actions or behaviors, that love that is absolving and redeeming, that takes stingy, greedy hearts, and it gives us peace because our relationship with God is not based upon anything we do, but based upon what Christ has done for us on the cross.
And that reminds us of our beauty and our worth and forms in us repentant, giving, gracious, grateful, generous hearts.
So, my brothers and sisters, you are a beloved steward of not just money, you are a beloved steward of a great wealth of grace that never stops giving to you.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us as we so often use money for the thing that you are supposed to be, and that is the treasure of our lives, our self-worth, redemption from our shame, redemption from our sin.
Forgive us for the way that we use it to feel a sense of control in a world that we never really have control.
Forgive us for the way that we use it to flaunt and try to feel important in front of other people.
And for all of this, we are repentant.
We say that's not right thinking.
And we thank you that you love us before and in and after all of this ridiculous, ridiculous thinking and living.
We thank you that your grace is much deeper than any of it that we have done and we will do.
And we thank you that you simply love us with a wealth that never ends.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.