February 26, 2012

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Hey, let’s pray this morning. Father, we want to settle our spirits and our hearts before You today. Thank You for the time of worship. Father, I pray that if there is maybe any frustration in any of our hearts today because of the parking lot situation that You would settle that. Thank you, God, for the fact that we just have a place to gather and to serve and to worship. Lord, I pray that You would give me an extra dose of Your clarity, of Your love, of Your boldness as we teach today and learn from these two primary passages of scripture. I pray that You would comfort the afflicted this morning and that You would afflict the comfortable. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, today we are beginning a brand new, five-part series of messages that I’m very excited about called Generous Giants. And here’s basically the big idea. There isn’t a person in this room that doesn’t want to have an impact. There isn’t a person in this room that doesn’t want to live their life and say, “In the course of my six, seven, eight decades on this planet, I made a difference. I had a giant-sized impact on the world around me.” We’d like to think that one day at our funeral (whenever that is – hopefully many years from today) that people actually show up, and that they have nice things to say, and that there aren’t big spaces of awkward silence at those funerals because we want to have a big, giant-sized impact on the world around us. That’s actually a good thing; it’s a good desire that we all have. What many of us fail to recognize though is that if that’s going to happen, it’s got to come from a power and a provision that comes from beyond ourselves and actually flows through us. This is illustrated in one of my favorite Super Bowl commercials of all time from a couple of years ago. Take a look at the screen. Video of Commercial I love that commercial partly because I’ve got a 9-year-old boy at home and probably because we never grow out of that, do we? We all have the desire to make a giant-sized impact on the world around us, and oftentimes, when we get those opportunities; we may think that it was us. But it was actually the power and provision of God working and flowing through us. This desire we have to make a difference in the lives of others has been hard-wired into each of us. God has placed it within our hearts. In fact, Jesus even acknowledged this. He said, “If any of you wants to be great…” Now, Jesus didn’t say you shouldn’t have a desire to be great. He said, “If you want to be great …” that’s actually a good desire, but then he tells us how, “…you’ve got to become a servant of all.” You’ve got to place yourself in a position where you’re humble enough for the power and the provision of God to flow through you. If you want to be a giant, the only way to be a giant is to be generous. This is actually how Paul describes the generosity of the Macedonian church in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 2. This is actually our theme verse for this whole series. This is where we got the title for this message series. He says, “For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty…” Do those two words go together very often? He says, “… their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” And so, if the Macedonians could be generous under those dire circumstances, then you and I can be as well. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

Now, I want to encourage you today to make a commitment to be here as much as you possibly can for all of five weekends of this series because we’re going to be unpacking together a Biblical principle of Biblical stewardship and generosity – one principle every single week here in this five-part series. These principles are going to build one upon the other, so if you miss a weekend, then you’re going to have an incomplete picture of what we are trying to accomplish together. Now, that is not just a marketing ploy to boost attendance even though I know that it sounds that way. I really mean it. As I have been studying this and praying about it, I want you to know, as your pastor, I’m not just preaching this material, I’m receiving it with you during the week as I’m studying it and laying my heart before God asking God to do a work in me. I really believe that this series has the potential to be one of the greatest catalysts of spiritual growth that you and I have experienced in our lives to date. I know that’s a very big statement, and yet I know that as I look back across my life as a Christian, there have been moments when I’ve gone deep with Jesus and when I’ve really grown. It’s not been the Bible studies although I’ve been in some good ones. It’s not being exposed to good teaching and preaching, and I’ve listened to a lot of really great sermons. It’s not going on mission trips, although I’ve gone on several transformational mission trips. It has always been when I let God into my checkbook. It has always been when I let God—when I trust God in that area of my life. Some of you are agreeing with me there. Yeah, absolutely, when we look back on our lives, that’s where the rubber met the road. That was the real turning point in my faith that has the potential to be a real spiritual catalyst. Now, for others of us, this series is going to reveal one of our greatest spiritual tensions and resistance points as it relates to our faith. The next five weeks are going to cause some of you some anxiety and some discomfort – maybe some defensiveness or conviction. I sound a little bit like those pharmaceutical commercials. At the very end, this series may cause you excessive weight gain, foaming at the mouth, and growth of extra hair on your lip. So, I realize that, and it’s going to cause you some spiritual resistance. And may I just say, as your pastor, that I’m expecting that? That’s not going to be any surprise to me because I’ve taught on this subject enough to know that people get funny when you talk about money. You’ve heard that before too. In fact, you might even just say that, around our building, around our church, whenever we’re going through this series together and it starts to get a little bit awkward, just say, “People get funny when you talk about money.” So, whenever you bring up this subject, what it does is that it stirs up the sediment that has settled at the bottom of our hearts. Have you ever looked at a fish bowl that looks clean? And then you reach your hand in there and you move the castle around or you move the little artificial bush around and all of a sudden all of this crud (you don’t even know what it is), this junk just comes up from underneath all of the pebbles. And you’re like, that fish bowl is not clean at all. That’s what this subject does to our hearts. It stirs some stuff up. Many of us bring our own baggage and our own biases as it relates to this subject. I know that some of you have been exposed to some bad or manipulative teaching as it relates to this area. Interesting thing to note though is that in the years I have been in ministry, it’s usually not the non-Christians or the new Christians that have been exposed to this teaching for the first time that have a problem with it. It’s usually the seasoned Christians who have never gotten it right. We’ve been exposed to the teaching, and we know what the Bible says, but we don’t want to apply it. We don’t want to go there. We know we’re living out of alignment and so it causes for great tension/great conviction in our lives. So, this series will either cause a catalytic growth in our spiritual journey, or we are going to find ourselves in the middle of great spiritual resistance and tension. The one thing that this series is guaranteed not to do is Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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leave you neutral. And so, today, we are going to look at Principle Number 1 and it has everything to do with our heart and our trust. If you have a Bible or an electronic device with a Bible on it, turn to Matthew chapter 6 and then we’re also going to be looking at Luke 12. So, two different passages, but they say essentially the same thing. Jesus hits it from slightly different angles. The teaching reinforces itself. I want to look at these two passages. As you’re turning there, let me take a brief moment to address a number of you that may be in the room today. Number one, if this is your first Sunday to visit or maybe you would even say, “I wouldn’t exactly call myself a Christian.” Or maybe you’re not on the best terms with God. Maybe you’ve been away from church a long time and, at the prompting of somebody’s invitation, you decided to come today. I just want to welcome you. I’m so glad that you’re here. Maybe you’ve already had this thought go through your mind. “I knew it. The only thing the church is interested in is money. Last time I came to church was 1998 and they were talking about money then. Now, I’m coming to church and they’re talking about money now.” Maybe the person who invited you has already turned and apologized, “I’m so sorry. If I would have known that Aaron was teaching on this, I would have invited you to Cow Tipping, the last 17 weeks, which was so much fun.” Let me say welcome. Let me put you at ease. I want you to know, brand new visitor/maybe you wouldn’t call yourself a Christian, this series is for you and it isn’t for you. It is for you in the sense that I can’t think of anything more practical than the subject of money. Money isn’t just money, is it? Money represents self-esteem and security. And so, it doesn’t matter your age, your marital status, your season of life. You deal with money on a daily basis. You earn it. You save it. You spend it. You worry about it. Money is very, very practical. The Bible has a lot of wisdom to teach us on the subject that you may or may not be aware of. I think the next five weeks will be helpful for you. So, it’s for you, but it’s also not for you in the sense that I don’t want you to apply any of it. You don’t have to. Have you ever audited a class? Just audit this. Come for the next five weeks, and I don’t want a dime from you. I don’t want you to put anything in the offering basket. I don’t want you to feel obligated to give. Why? Because I don’t want you to use that as an excuse not to listen to this. So, just remove that off the table. You can just come in every week and listen to this, and I think, at the end of the five weeks, you’ll find that there is some really valuable information here. Here’s another group of people. You may be here today and you’re a Christian, but this is not your home church. Maybe you’re visiting from out of town, you have kids that go here, parents that go here, maybe your co-worker invited you, maybe you relocated from another location and you’re church dating right now. You’re trying to figure out where God is leading you. Then, I am going to say the same thing to you. I don’t want your money. So, just come for the next five weeks. Listen to this. If, at the end of the five weeks you say, “You know what, Aaron, this isn’t going to be our home church” then take what we’re going to teach here from God’s word and apply it elsewhere. If you’re a young person and what I mean by young is 25 years and younger … so, all of you over 40, put your mental hands down. Twenty-five and younger and you’re thinking, “I don’t have any resources and this probably isn’t…” I don’t know why this is but every time I teach on this, the young people check out. And if you’re poor (and I mean college poor – that’s like a whole other level of poor – you’re eating Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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Ramen Noodles, still taking laundry over to Mom and Dad’s, you’re dirt poor) don’t check out on me. This is the best time for you to understand some of these Biblical principles on stewardship because it’s not emotional for you yet. And so if you don’t learn this now before you have the resources to manage, it’s going to be much harder to learn later in a few years when you do have resources to manage. If you are unemployed or right now you are facing great financial difficulty, this is always a difficult series to go through when you are struggling. And I want you to know we want to come around you, support you, pray for you and encourage you during this time, because all of us have been in that season and it’s very painful. And I don’t want you to check out either because what the Bible teaches about generosity has very little to do with our resources and everything to do with our attitude and our heart. So, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul is talking about the generosity of the Macedonian church. What did we just say about them? They were in extreme poverty. They were facing difficult situations. And Paul said it overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. God can still do a significant work in our heart regardless of the season of life that we may be in. Last group of people: if you’re here today and you’re a Christian and Traders is your home. This is your spiritual storehouse. Even if you are a not member or you haven’t joined the church yet, it doesn’t matter. You would still say, if you attend here most of the time, “Aaron, you’re our pastor. We get our spiritual teaching and feeding here. We’re involved here.” There are three different mind sets within this group that we might label this way: those who are grateful for this teaching; those who are apathetic; and those of you who are irritated. So, the first group – those of you who are grateful – you’re already generous, you’re already tithing, you’ve gone through Dave Ramsey and Crown. You’ve gone through all the teaching. You’ve been exposed to good Biblical principles. You’re applying this to your life. You’re like, “Thank you, Aaron, for the reminder. We need this. The whole church needs this. Way to go. We’re cheering you on.” And I’ve heard from so many of you already. Then, there’s the mindset among those of you that you are just apathetic. It’s just this, “I know what the Bible teaches, but I’ve just never gotten there yet.” Studies show that 80% of Christians never get to the place of spiritual generosity through stewardship and tithing. Eighty percent – they just never get there for whatever reason. Third mind set among Christians and this is your home: you’re just irritated. That’s about 1% or fewer of you. It’s not the majority. I’m talking to 10 of you right now, and you’re irritated. If you’re just to be very honest, you’re *saying to yourself+, “I don’t want to go through this. I wish these five weeks would just go by really quickly.” And you’re even a bit cynical. I can actually understand that. I can even respect it a bit. I come from the “Show Me” state, and so I am always looking for that ulterior motive, that motivation that is there. Some of you have let these thoughts run with you a little bit too recklessly and have said, “Well, I know that there is some sort of expansion project coming and this is why Aaron is doing this.” And let me just say very clearly. That is not why I am doing this. I come in every single week and let the Bible lead like I always do. We’re going to teach expository messages like I always do. These are going to be Biblical principles that come out of God’s Word. An expansion project is maybe one application of several in which we can apply this teaching. Yeah, there is an aggressive vision that I am going to be unpacking for us as a church in the next five weeks. It has to do with expanding space to minister to children in Kenya because they are out of space. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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We’re working in Mathare Valley. And we’re also out of children’s space here on our own campus and we need to add on. And I’m going to say this to you several times throughout the series. I am not a big fan of big, fancy ginormous church buildings which may sound odd from a large church pastor [who is] saying that to you. I’m not a fan of that. You know what I’m also not a fan of? Turning families away because we just can’t minister to their kids, and that’s exactly what’s happening right now. We’ve outgrown our children’s space. We’ve been in that [mode] for a year now, and we need to look at that. I know that, for the 10 of you who may be irritated right now, it doesn’t matter what I say, you’re never going to get over the hump of that. So, can I just very lovingly give you an out? You don’t have to come and be irritated and poison the well, and you don’t need to leave our church. I don’t want you to leave our church, but you can leave for the series. And on April the first, I’ll be on a brand new series of messages right around Easter. I’m not saying that sarcastically or in a mean-spirited way at all. I’m just trying to be real. I’ll be doing a new series on April 1. You can come back then; no harm; no foul. But be very, very careful with that kind of attitude because what I’ve learned in my own life is that whatever I’m resisting; wherever I’m facing spiritual tension and resistance is oftentimes where the Holy Spirit is camping out on my heart trying to get my attention. Besides, man, what kind of a pastor would I be if I never taught on this subject? What kind of church would you go to if the pastor never wanted to teach on this? I am committed to teach on the whole counsel of God. Did you know that there are 500 verses in the Bible that deal with faith and 500 verses that deal with prayer? We love those sermons. When I give a sermon on prayer, the CD sells out and you don’t even need to buy the CD, it’s free on line. You go and you buy those. There are over 2,300 verses in the Bible that deal with money and finances. Jesus taught about it. Out of 16 of his 38 parables, He taught on it. He taught on it and addressed it more than the subjects of heaven, hell, or prayer combined. Not because He wants our money, but because He doesn’t want our money to have us. So, just stay here with me and let’s be irritated as we work through this together. Be irritated with God’s Word because that’s what it really comes down to. Here’s the basic thing, at the end of the day, I want us to know this. We must teach on the subject of money, generosity, and Biblical stewardship not in an effort to raise dollars, but in an effort to raise disciples because that’s what it really comes down to. Now, Matthew chapter 6, we’re going to get into principle number one that has everything to do with our heart. This is pillar number one. It’s the foundation. If we get this wrong, all the other teaching that I’m going to do in this series is not going to make any sort of an impact. So, when I say ‘heart,’ I’m not talking about your physical heart beating in your chest. I’m not talking about physiology. I’m talking about motivation, preoccupation, and concentration. When we say, “My heart’s in it” or “I love that thing with all my heart” that’s what I mean. And this is what Jesus is going to reveal to us in this passage of scripture from Matthew chapter 6. So, look at what he says in verse 19. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 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.” So, Jesus comes right out here and says most of the stuff that we acquire in our lives is eventually going to rust out anyway or it’s going to be stolen, and it isn’t going to last. And so don’t put all of your concentration, preoccupation, or motivation into acquiring those things when you’re not going to take it with you anyway. I have never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. And so he tells us to be very careful that that stuff doesn’t hijack your heart. Now, God reminds me of this periodically in different seasons of my life whenever I start to struggle with materialism or I start to think too much about money. Probably the most recent was about 6 or 7 years Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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ago; Lindsay and I were getting ready to expand our family. We had two kids at the time, and were getting ready to have the third one. And we decided to buy a minivan which was a great moment of personal defeat for me – turning in part of my man-card for that one. And so we started to do the research and we landed on a Honda Odyssey. We saw a lot of those out on the road, and so we started researching it. Those are relatively expensive vehicles so we put a lot of time and energy in researching the right price and trying to get one. We probably spent too much time looking. So, we get this thing and it was one of those deals where you finally buy it, and you’re babying it, and taking really good care of it. We had it a week and Lindsay came inside crying one morning. She runs up to the bathroom where I am still getting ready, and she’s sobbing and she tells me, “I hurt the van!” “You hurt the van?” How do you hurt a van? So, I go outside and I had parked right behind her the night before. I usually didn’t do that, and she was late and she pulled out of the garage pretty quickly and she slammed into the front of my truck. My truck didn’t have a scratch on it, but the whole back end of the van was smashed in. Brand new van – we’d had it a week. So, we had to take it to the body shop. They had to take the back end off and put on a new back end. We got it back, and a week later we took a group of friends to King’s Island in Cincinnati. So, we’re heading home. It’s after dark. We’re on the highway and there’s a car in the lane to my right. I’m in the fast lane and we’re going 65 miles per hour, and all of a sudden, right in front of me is a semi tire in my lane. I couldn’t get over, I couldn’t slow down, and I hit that thing at 65 miles per hour. Have you ever done that? In a minivan? So, I pull over and there’s wire and broken fiberglass and the headlights are bashed in. I took it to the same body shop and the guys are wondering, “What are you doing?” So, the whole front end had to come off and a brand new front end had to go on. That car had less than 500 miles on it, and had a brand new back end and a brand new front end. We tried to sell it a couple of years ago. We had to list it. It’s like Carmax. We had to list the collisions. And God reminded me that it’s just metal, wire, and rubber. It’s going to rust out, thieves will break in and steal, so don’t let that hijack your heart because that’s where your heart will naturally be. And Jesus gives us this principle in verse 21. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So, Jesus is saying that wherever your money or your mammon or checkbook is, that’s where your heart is going to be. Now, whenever I’ve read this, I’ve always thought that it should be reversed – the way we live our lives. I think to myself whenever I have a concern, wherever I see a need, wherever I think there’s a worthy cause, or whatever I’m interested in, I’m going to write a check towards that. That’s important to me, and Jesus actually reverses that. And He says, “No, you’re money doesn’t follow your heart; your heart follows your money.” Wherever your money already is, is where your heart will be by default. Do you want to know where your heart is? Do you want to know where your motivation, preoccupation, and concentration are? Follow the money trail. And that’s where it will lead every single time. So let’s get real practical. Here around in church, we say this all the time. I believe in Jesus with all of my – I’ve accepted Jesus into my – I trust Jesus with all of my heart. But, I’ve got to hold onto my treasure in case of an emergency. To which Jesus would say, “Then, I’m not in your heart. I will never have your heart until I have your treasure.” And then Jesus goes on in verse 22. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” It just consumes you. Now, I read that a couple of weeks ago as I was studying for this sermon. And I’ll be honest with you, verse 21 and 22; I’ve never Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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known what to do with it. So, most of the time, you just read right on through it and get to the latter part of this teaching because you’re wondering what do eyes and lamps and darkness have to do with money. In verse 22 (look at verse 22), look at the word healthy. It says, “if your eye…” (in other words, your focus) “…is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” What does that mean? Well, the word “healthy” there is translated three other times in the New Testament with the word generous. So, in other words, that literally reads, if you’re focus is generous, then your whole body will be full of light. And then, in the next verse, “…if your eye is bad…” that word there is also found in Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 9 and it is often translated as “ungenerous” or “grudging” so, literally, what that says is if my focus is generous, my whole body will be full of light. If my focus is ungenerous, my whole body will be full of darkness and how great is the darkness. So, in other words, Jesus says if my preoccupation is on the accumulation of money and the false sense of security that it brings; then I’ll be spiritually blinded to this teaching – to this reality. This is why I think most Christians don’t like to hear sermons on money. Think about it. If you are already generous, if you are already tithing, if you are already trusting God with your checkbook, would you really be all that uncomfortable in this series? It’s like my kids at home. When I come home, and one of them has been disobedient…I’ll say, “Hey you guys should have made your beds,” and my daughter didn’t make her bed and my son did make his bed [so] I’ll start lecturing … my son comes into the room and sits down, and I’ll look at him and wonder what he’s doing in here as he’s already made his bed. *If I’d ask+ he’d say, “I want to listen to this, Dad.” He’s enjoying it. “Let her have it, Dad. Did you see I made my bed?” This is the same deal. Why would you be defensive or upset if you’re already there? So, if we’re generous, we see it. If we’re ungenerous, we can’t see the spiritual reality. Now, if that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, Jesus goes deeper. Verse 24: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Now, Jesus is saying here that there are two masters and that we cannot possibly serve both. Most of us in this culture today push back on that. We have a very low degree of loyalty to anything in our culture. So, we hear about [two] masters and serving, and we think we can serve both. I like Five Guys burgers and fries; I like Red Robin. I can go to both. I like the queso at Qdoba; I like the carne asada at Chipotle. Don’t make me choose; I’m going to go to both. I’m not loyal to either one. That is not the word. The word here is doulos and it means bond slave, bond servant. It’s this idea of single ownership and full-time service. And so Jesus says, “You’ll be devoted to the one or the other. You cannot serve both.” Now, Jesus said something really tense. He used the word “hate.” Do you remember another time when He used “hate”? He said, “If you don’t hate your mother, father, brothers, and sisters, come follow me …” Now, did He literally mean hate then? Well, that’s a vernacular. It’s like today when young people will say, ‘Ah, that’s sick!” What are they talking about? Well, it means it’s awesome. It’s this vernacular that gets used to demonstrate a dramatic point, and Jesus says your heart can’t be in one of two camps here. Now this brings up a tension that a lot of people face nowadays when it comes to money and personal finances and materialism. I have had a lot of people come up to me … in fact, a lot of people that have great wealth ... they’ll come up to me and say, “Man, I hate money. I just hate it. I wish I could get rid of it. I don’t want anything to do with it.” So, it’s this idea that – do we literally hate money? Now, Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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understand this: money is amoral. Money is not good in and of itself; it’s not bad in and of itself. What we do with it makes it good. What we do with it makes it bad. Paul said to Timothy that – not money is the root of all evil – what did he say? He said, “The love of money, the preoccupation, the concentration, the looking to it for our security – that is the root of all evil.” I have had several of you – right here in our own church – you’ve emailed me [about this subject] over the past couple of months. Christianity publishes so many books. So much of it is really, really good and some of it is not so good, but there are several really good books out there. Many of you have read them: Crazy Love; The Hole in Our Gospel; Radical, which we read together as a church last year. All good books – highly recommend them. Love the guys who wrote them. Agree with so much of what they say, but understand this: it’s commentary. It’s not the Word of God and they’re susceptible just like I’m susceptible to pendulum swings. Here’s the pendulum swing in our culture that we might call prosperity theology. Prosperity theology had its hey-day in the eighties and so you saw it a lot of times. Unfortunately, a lot of televangelists, a lot of TV preachers were leaning toward a prosperity theology. This is where people take a few verses out of the Bible and say, “If you really love God, then you’ll be wealthy. If you sow a faith gift of $50; God will bless you with $500.” That’s a load of garbage. The Bible does not teach that in its entirety. God says you’ll be blessed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean monetarily – it might/maybe. But there are a whole lot of other blessings that come with that. The other pendulum swing goes the other way. I would say this is where we often are today. It’s poverty theology. It’s the idea where people take a few verses out of the Bible and say, “If you really love God, then you don’t have anything. You’ll be poor; you’ll just get rid of everything that you have.” And they’ll quote Jesus to the rich young ruler where He says, “If you want to follow me, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, pick up your cross and come follow me.” Jesus said it right there. Yes, He did. And that’s the only person He said it to. He didn’t say it to Zaccheus, He could have. That wee little man up in that tree; that tax collector, filthy rich, cheating people out of money. What did Jesus say to him? “Come down. Let’s have dinner at your sweet pad.” That’s what He said to him. Let’s go have lunch. And did you know that Zaccheus made some financial adjustments that day? He said, “You know what, I’m going to give back to those people I cheated out of money. I’m actually going to give above and beyond that.” And Jesus did say, “Well, that’s not enough; you’ve got to sell everything.” No. Jesus didn’t say that to Mary and Martha while having tea with cute little doilies in their house. He didn’t look around and say, “Guys, this is really a nice place; you’ve got to sell everything.” Jesus said that to the rich young ruler. Why? Because his wealth was his lower case “g” god, he was looking to that for his security and sense of purpose. Jesus knew that it was his biggest barrier. So, He said, “Are you willing to let go of all it?” Jesus is not against wealth and possessions. What He is against, what He forbids is an abundance that we stockpile up that we cannot possibly ever use during this lifetime. What He is against is us stockpiling our abundance giving little regard to the needs of others or to the expansion of the Kingdom of God. What He forbids is for me to put my trust in my abundance and say, “God, I love you, but I trust this.” If something happens, I’ve got a fall back. That’s what He forbids. We learn these two principles. It is either trust God and distrust money; or trust money and distrust God. You’re thinking, “I don’t like that.” Sorry, but those are the only two options we have. It’s either trust God and distrust money; or trust money and distrust God.

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The second principle is this. When we trust Jesus, we’ll manage His money. When we distrust Jesus, we act like owners of our money. It’s all His anyway. That’s going to the fifth principle in this series. It’s all God’s anyway. It’s just a great illusion that we own any of it. And so when we realize that we put our trust in Christ, we become money managers, not money owners. Now, let’s go over to Luke 12 because Jesus is going to teach something very similar, but it’s going to be a slightly different angle and it’s going to reinforce this principle. Luke 12, starting in verse 13. Jesus is going to use one of His favorite methods of teaching to communicate a spiritual reality and that’s through the use of a parable – the use of a story. Let’s see what He says here. Verse 13, let’s set this up. “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And He said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’” So, the context here is that Jesus has gathered hundreds of people around Him to do some teaching and preaching and a man pushes his way up through the crowd and he gets the attention of Jesus. He interrupts Him, and he has a question that (if you read up on this chapter) has nothing to do with what Jesus had been just teaching on. It just comes out of the blue. Why is that? Well, when we have a money problem, it just overshadows everything. So, this guy is listening to Jesus teach, but he’s not listening. He’s thinking about his money problem. So, he pushes his way up through the crowd and he interrupts Jesus and he says, “I’ve got a money problem.” And Jesus is irritated by it. He’s put out by it, and so He says, “Who made me a judge over you?” And then He turns to the crowd and says this is a great opportunity to teach all of you spiritual reality here. And that’s what He does. Look at verse 16. “And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.’” Now, here’s what we need to understand. The man in this parable had obtained great wealth in an honest way. He had a business and the business was fruitful and he was successful and he made a lot of money. Many of you in this room have experienced or are experiencing something very similar. Remember a few weeks ago when we studied the parable of the talents – the five talent servant, the two talent servant, and the one talent servant? In many of the same ways, many of you in this room have been gifted in tremendous ways to make a lot of money. Many of you … God has blessed you with an intellect or blessed you with business savvy. Some of you – it has totally surprised you. Hasn’t it? You never thought you would make as much money as what you make today and God has blessed you with the gifts and the abilities to do that. That was not the sin of the man in the parable. This man’s sin was that he … it’s not that he didn’t worship God with his wealth, but he made his wealth the god that he worshipped. That was his sin. And so Jesus has a name for him. He calls him a fool. This man decides in his excess and his fruitfulness – he says, “Well, the old storage facilities that I had to store up this excess weren’t adequate enough,” even though they actually were to provide for his livelihood. “Those weren’t adequate enough; I needed to tear those down, and I needed to build bigger barns.” And it never once dawned on him that maybe God Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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was giving him this excess so he could bless the lives of others or expand the Kingdom of God. And that’s what Jesus has a real difficulty with in this parable. Now, here’s the problem when we read this parable. Very, very few of us ever read this parable and think to ourselves, “I might be the rich man.” When we read that parable, be honest, you were thinking about your neighbor, weren’t you? You were thinking about your wealthy uncle. You were thinking about your boss. And we always, always, always – when we hear the word “rich” – we never see ourselves. We always think of somebody else. It doesn’t matter if we move up in the income bracket. We never consider ourselves rich. Why? Because we always move the chains, and we always compare up. There’s always somebody that’s just a little bit better off or at least appears to be better off than us. So, we read this passage and we think about somebody else who’s rich and should manage their money better. So, you drive by your neighbor’s house and they have a brand new boat in the driveway. That’s sure an awful lot of money! We go into somebody’s house for dinner and we check out their furniture. Somebody has expensive taste. We turn into the “Church Lady” from Saturday Night Live. We just walk around, and we say, “Oh, that looks like an expensive shirt she’s wearing. I’m going to get online and see where she bought that.” And [we] make a judgment call. We always, always, always think it’s somebody else. Here’s what I want us to do. When you read this parable today, you’re the rich man. I’m the rich man. Here’s why I say that. If you live in this country today and you have a roof over your head, central heating and air … if you have a house for your car – we call those garages (that’s like a western thing) … if you have a fridge … if you have food in the fridge … if you have more than two pairs of clothing in your closet … if you have a closet … if you have a bank account – it doesn’t have to have hardly anything in it – you just have enough to open up a bank account … if you make at least $30,000 a year in this country, you are in the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the world. We’re rich. What do [we] rich people do with our excess? Well, we build bigger barns. Did you know that in America in 1950 the average home size was a thousand square feet? In 1970, it was 1,500 square feet. In 2000, it was 2,200 square feet. In the last 30 years, American families have shrunk by 25% and the size of our homes has increased by 50%. Go figure. Now, is it a sin to have a big house? Not necessarily, if you can afford it, if you have a proper perspective on resources, if you’re rich toward God. What got us into this financial crisis a few years ago? Housing market. How did we do that? Easy, easy leveraging of debt and we built bigger barns when we didn’t have the grain to pay for it. Interesting thing to note is that storage unit facilities are like one of the top businesses in America. And I know that some of you have storage facilities to [store] excess for business for very legitimate reasons, but there are a lot of us who have storage facilities that we just rent to keep our excess. Do you know that the average size of a storage facility is about the same size of a home in a third world country? Ironically, it’s made out of the same materials: tin and cinder block. So, we rent out facilities to store our excess in a space that most people use to raise their families in, in the third world. We’re rich. We’re rich. And so Jesus says this man’s life will be taken from him that night. That’s sort of stunning, don’t you think? I read this and I think, “Jesus did you have to kill him? Did you have to off him?” Where’s the grace? Keep in mind, it’s a story. Jesus can tell it however He wants and He is making a dramatic point. What is the point that He’s making? Your life will conclude much faster than you think. It could be taken from you this very night. Jesus is making this point that if we spend the whole sum of our lives acquiring, Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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acquiring, acquiring … and all of us have an imaginary number, don’t we? … have you ever seen that commercial on TV, What’s Your Number? The numbers are going up. What’s the number you need to retire comfortably? What’s the number you need to remove all risks? That’s an illusion. God gives. He can take away. So, we spend all of – I’m not saying planning for the future and [having] a 401(k) and savings are bad – I’m just saying *it’s bad+ if you spend all of your time thinking, “What’s my number? What’s my number? I’ve got to get there! I’ve got to get there!” And then the day before you get there, you die. What good was all that? And so Jesus says for us to be careful with that mindset. Don’t let that hijack your heart. Don’t worship your wealth; worship with your wealth. So Jesus just says a very harsh thing and now He shares some pastoral counsel in verse 22. This is the comforting part of the sermon, “And he said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life …’” Why do you have money problems? Why are you worried about this? I’m coveting and I’m anxious. I’ve got anxiety; I’m worried. Don’t be anxious [about], “‘…what you will eat, not about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens …’” here’s an example “‘… they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possession, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Jesus is stressing that we will either worship our wealth or worship with our wealth. Do you know that the average American in this room will manage about $2,000,000 in his or her lifetime? If you make $35,000 - $50,000 a year over a 40-year period, you’ll manage approximately $2,000,000. Many of you in this room – most of you in this room will manage much more than that. And, we don’t keep a dime of it. We just steward it. It comes into our lives and then it passes through our lives. I think it was Randy Alcorn who said, “We can’t take any of it with us, but we can send it on ahead.” And so, it’s this idea that it comes in and it shapes me while it’s there and then it flows out again. Stewardship of financial resources is one of the most effective spiritual disciplines that there is. Not fasting, not Bible study, mission trips, service projects – all some amazing things. You want to know where the rubber meets the road? When I let God into my checkbook. When I was growing up in church, I would every now and then catch a glimpse of somebody’s open Bible. Have you ever looked at somebody’s Bible that is just completely marked up? It has underlining, *it’s+ circled, [it has] highlights, and notes in the margin. And you look at that, and you think, “Man, he or she – they are spiritual giants.” How does God measure our spiritual growth? Is it how marked up our Bibles are? Jesus says in this passage, “No, I’m not really impressed with how marked up your Bible is. I want to know how marked up your checkbook is. Do you really trust Me in that regard?”

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You want to know why generosity is so important? It’s because you and I cannot possibly begin to understand the Gospel message until we begin to understand and practice generosity. It’s at the core of it. John 3:13 – what does that say? “For God so loved the world that He gave …” It’s at the very core of the Gospel message. 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul says, “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.” It says might. Why? Well, because it’s not a guarantee. I’ve got to receive it. I’ve got to claim it. I’ve got to continue to live it every day. And here’s the very sobering thought that God hit me with over this last week. Am I willing to trust God with my salvation? [Or do I say], “God I trust you with my heart. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my salvation. Thank you for sending Jesus to a cross to pay my debt, but God I can’t trust you with my finances. I can’t trust you with my money.” Money will either be our god or we can use it to worship our God. Those are the only two options that we have. So, it is not prosperity theology where we have an unhealthy desire to get rich and think that’s what God wants us to do if our faith just gets there. And it’s not poverty theology where we have an unhealthy fear of having resources and we think we have to be poor in order to be holy. Here’s what the Bible teaches: generosity theology. It’s not prosperity; it’s not poverty. It’s generosity theology. So, if God is giving you a gift to make money; don’t apologize for that but be generous. If God is giving you the ability … you earn what you can, you provide for your family, you plan for the future, you give to those who have need, you seek to lift up the name of Jesus and expand the Kingdom of God and you be rich towards God. Money flows in and out of our lives. Here’s an analogy that is helpful. It’s like water that flows over rocks in a river and when that water flows over rocks enough times, it shapes those rocks. And money flows into my bank account and it flows out of my bank account much faster. And as it does that over the course of my life, it’s shaping my heart. That’s why Jesus says so much about this particular subject. Here’s what I want you to do over this next week. I want you to go home. I want you to pull out all of your debit cards, any credit cards you might have, your checkbook. Go to the place where you pay all your bills. I want you to pull out a Sharpie or a pen of some kind, and I want you to write Luke 12:21 on the front of all of your debit/credit cards, checkbook. Luke 12:21. What does that say? “Be rich towards God.” How cool would that be if you were at a restaurant, and you gave the waiter or waitress your credit card for your meal and they looked at it and wondered what’s Luke 12:21. Just a reminder: be rich towards God. And then you better tip them pretty well otherwise it would be hypocrisy after that. How cool would that be if Christians became known for that rather than the people who don’t tip very well? Or what about this? What if you see somebody across the room and say, “Hey, could you bring their check over here too? Because I’d actually like to practice this.” If I’m going to tip you well … [if] I’m going to take care of them ... I’m going to be rich. Some of you have the gift of generosity and I am so grateful to you. Very honestly, I don’t think I have the gift of generosity because it’s always an intentional decision I have to make and I usually wrestle with God a bit. There are some moments where I have to say, “No, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this.” And it’s not because I feel that I have to; it’s because I want to make this intentional decision to say, “God, I’m literally trusting you with this.” I have had my meal paid for me at a restaurant and I have paid for other people’s meals. It feels better to pay for somebody else’s meal. At first, I wrestle with it, but then I drive away and I say, “God, I trust you with those resources.”

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And here over the next several months together, we’re going to be talking about a great opportunity for us to be able to put some of these principles into practice. As I said a little bit earlier at the beginning of this message, we are, as a Church, getting ready to go into a season of expansion and we want to build effective children’s ministries in Kenya where we’re working, as well as our own campus. I know we have teams that are in Kenya right now (picture of Bondeni in Kenya on jumbotron), but has anybody in this room been there? Just raise up your hand. There’s a few. So, you guys know. You’ve been there. This looks familiar to you. This is actually the back of the school and the school doubles as a church. We have been working in this valley for 2 ½ - 3 years and it’s just crammed packed with kids and they have identified property to buy and build a bigger facility to house 1,000 or more kids. We want to provide that in this next effort. And then in our own children’s ministry here on this campus, we’re just out of room. We have had to relocate the kids to the multi-purpose room. Let me reiterate this again. I am not a huge fan of big, gigantic church buildings, but I’m also not a fan of turning families away because we can’t minister to their kids. And that’s our reality right now. It has been that way for a year. It’s where we’re going. And so, together as a Church, we are going to move ahead into this effort to see what we might be able to do to create space to minister to more families. And you are going to be hearing more about this vision project in the coming weeks, but it’s going to be a $16,000,000 project which is an aggressive vision. I believe that’s what God is laying out in front of us and He’ll resource it as long as we stay close to Him and dependent on Him. So, take a look at this video. Every Sunday, our children’s and student’s ministries worlds come alive. Children, student, and adult leaders come eager to reconnect with each other while also connecting with God – some of them for the very first time ever. Meaningful relationships are being built. Foundations are forming. Lives are changing. God is moving in this place and while all of this is something to celebrate, the reality is that we are literally out of space and have been since last spring when we finally exceeded minimum square foot recommendations for children’s space. In fact, the combined attendance of our children and student ministries now roughly equals the size of our entire church the year we built and moved into our current facility. Here’s another way to look at it. In January 2009, 509 children from Kindergarten to 5th grade entered our Kids Blast programming on a weekly basis. Also, each week 144 students from 6th – 12th grade entered our Middle School, Pulse, and High School Catalyst gatherings. Today, just three years later, we’re now serving 840 children and 238 Middle and High School students each week. That’s an overall growth of 65% in both areas in just three short years. It’s exciting and challenging all at the same time. That’s probably why we’ve got kids meeting for small groups under stairwells, on hardwood floors, backstage in the dance studio, and lots of other less than ideal places. As we mentioned, we far outgrew our children’s space well over a year ago and responded with a creative, but temporary move for the 1st through 5th graders into the multipurpose room. That opened up their old space to the pre-school ministry which they happily and quickly expanded into and since then, they have been growing like crazy. We’re cramming 30-35 kids in every room right now. That is not ideal because we like to have that time in small groups to connect with our kids, to get to know our kids, and to really love on them. The time to expand our building is right now. We are at a place where we need more Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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space. Today, in my class, I had 57 kids. I recruited some helpers – some next door neighbors or whoever I can find to help me to break this into smaller groups. It’s amazing to me that God has kept growing this 2nd grade class and so if God can touch them through me, then it’s just all worth it. Seeing God work in the hearts of these young people, to me, it’s really as close to Jesus as you’ll come on this earth. They are coming into our building each week looking for that relationship with God and it’s up to us to provide that. I think it’s very wise to be looking ahead. If a child is stressed out about coming to church, a parent is going to be less likely to want to go through that process. As a Mom, I have a 9-month-old and a 2-year-old. I grew up here at Traders Point and I moved away. My husband and I recently came back and we brought our children. The registration process was overwhelming and it did make my husband and I take a step back and wonder if I hadn’t had these roots here whether or not we would have stayed. We’re not the only ones out of space. Last Christmas Eve, our special offering went to help seed the purchase of land and a new building for children’s space for our strategic partner in the Bondeni slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Outside of Nairobi, there’s a community – I would liken it to 8,000 people living on top of a landfill. And because it’s a quarry, it sits down in the earth such that all the sewage, all the water, everything just collects inside this valley and that’s where these people live. And the school is just off the street on the main street that runs through the area. It is maybe an eighth of an acre. It’s an aluminum structure that’s three stories. The space is maxed out. These kids are crammed in like sardines. Bondeni kids and American kids – they’re a lot different, but they’re a lot alike. More is happening here at Traders Point than a land purchase adjacent to our property. More is happening than growing our staff and growing our body. More is happening than building our children’s space. We are growing here and we are growing out all over the world. Traders Point is committed to making a Kingdom impact both here and there, but in our tight environments where maximum capacities were achieved a long time ago, we know we need a solution. So, here’s what we’re going to do about it. Over the next five weeks, we’ll be addressing our space issues by unpacking a 90,000 square foot expansion and renovation initiative. This includes a plan both for our campus, as well as Bondeni. We’re calling the project, Generous Giants. We’re excited to share more with you. So, please plan to be with us for the next five weeks. We’re going to be unveiling more details and putting some specific materials in your hands for us to process and pray through together. As we go, check out generousgiants.com for latest updates. Student ministries at Traders Point and Nairobi, Kenya, are alive and well. Our kids are learning to worship. They’re learning to serve, and they’re learning to live out their relationship with God in whatever context He calls them to. We are thankful for our growth and the opportunities it

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brings. The future is exciting as together we’ll be positioning ourselves to invest even more effectively in the lives of the next generation of worshipers. Here’s what I want to ask you to do as we conclude today. I want to ask you to be in a spirit of prayer and for you to make this a matter of prayer in your lives. I want to ask you to pray for me. Can I do that? Is that selfish? I want to be your leader, not a lobbyist. I don’t want to be a salesman; I just want to lead us. I want you to know my heart that I am not trying to build the Kingdom onto myself. I just want to see as many people come to know Jesus Christ as possible. And I want … we cannot do this without leaning into God’s Holy Spirit. We want Him to check our motives. We want Him to check our spirits. And we want to do this for His glory and His alone. So, would you please pray? There are a couple of people that are leading a whole prayer initiative on this on Wednesday nights. I would love for you to come to the building and to participate in that prayer effort throughout this whole thing, to bathe and to marinate this whole matter in prayer. I believe that we are also working on a prayer guide, a guided system of prayer for each day of the week for you to pray as well. Just pray that God would move our Church through this with great passion, great humility, and great unity. Shawn and the team are going to lead us in one more song of worship. There will be pastors and prayer counselors here down front if you need somebody to pray with or if you have a decision to make. Let me pray for us. Can I ask you to stand? Could I do that? And let’s just come together before the Lord; thank Him for the teaching that He’s given us out of these passages and lay our hearts before Him. Father, we come to you right now … I just want to confess to You and in front of my Church family, God, that there have been moments when I have not wanted to be generous. There have been moments when I didn’t think I was greedy, but I really was just trying to put my trust in my mammon and my money and my checkbook. God, I pray that together You would lead us through this journey to let us know that wherever our treasure is invested, that’s where our heart is. So, God, I would pray that we would have and develop a, generosity theology. To not be ashamed of the gifts or resources You have blessed us with, but to make a decision – a resolve to be rich toward You; to meet the real-felt needs of those around us, in our community and around the world that we would seek to use our resources to expand Your Kingdom and that we would know that by doing that, we would come to understand the Gospel message in ways that perhaps we never would have. God, I pray for those of us in this room who are really struggling with this material for whatever reason that You would meet them where they are, that You would help foster this and develop this and help them to grow in it. And Lord, I pray that through all of this we would look back and say, “Man that was a real catalyst in my life where I took my relationship deeper with Jesus Christ.” We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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