The Gospel and Money - 7 Principles - Part 6 God's abundant generousity to others.
The Culture of Money - 7 Biblical Principles of the Gospel and Money • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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GREET EVERYONE-
If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OCC Results -
Halloweenies -
TODAY - Prayer for the persecuted
1 - Baptism Class after worship
2- Saturday - 11-11 Stonewater Women's Ministry “Cultivate” kickoff gathering - More info coming.
3 - Sunday 11-12 Prayer Sunday
4- PRAYER CARDS and PRAYER SPACE.
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to Romans Chapter 5 today as we will look at vs 1-11 this morning along with a couple of other verses as we continue exposing what Jesus says about how money and the Gospel intersect with each other in our fall series looking at the 7 Biblical Principles of Living well in a culture of money.
TRUTH
21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.
31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed.
LETS PRAY
PRAYER FOR THE SERIES AND MESSAGE
My prayer for this series is that we would understand from the full counsel of Scripture how the Gospel and money Intersect.
That God has given resources to you and to me for 2 things
1 - to advance the Gospel and
2 - Human flourishing.
That in our understanding we would know there is nothing evil about money but there is a purpose and an intent that God has with money and that is to Advance His kingdom through the declaration of the Gospel and to increase and sustain human flourishing.
My Prayer for this message is:
Through the comfort and conviction of the Holy Spirit we would come to begin to understand the interconnected Role that Improving and sustaining human flourishing has with the declaration of the Gospel.
That the Gospel must be proclaimed!
It must be proclaimed by the Church - for the local assembly of the called out ones - the Church - for that is the purpose and mission of the church, it is why we exist, it is our command from our Master - the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what we will find from the whole council of scripture is that the Gospel must be proclaimed by the assembly of the called out ones i.e. the church - both in word and in deed!
Without words the gospel cannot be recieved becasue faith come by hearing and hearing by the word.
Without deeds the Gospel is empty and void of any life changing power.
So, I pray that the abundant generosity of God, who loves us with a love that seems so reckless yet is so precise and abundant, that we would find our greatest reward, our highest value, our biggest repository of joy, in being the instrument of human flourishing that God calls us all to be as individual people and as the Assembly of the called out ones - The Living breathing reality of Jesus - his body called the church.
As such we would find all we need for our tomorrows in Jesus as we build up treasures in His kingdom that exceed any thing we have built up here.
ENGAGEMENT
There are things that we can see on social media that sometime overwhelm me.
There are plenty of crazy things out there that can give us all general feeling of sadness.
Sometimes I see social media posts by people who very much claim Christ that have the potential to be the kind of statement that could indicate that the have taken the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain.
When I say that many of us immediately go to the Commandment that says “do not take the name of the Lord your God” to mean don't use His name as a cuss word -
And we certainly should not do that.
But that is not what that commandment means.
What the Literal meaning of the original language says is NOT - Speaking in an defiling way -
Here is what the original language means.
It means do not take - Which means “do not lift or carry” The name of your God
In Vain - Means - In a way that is futile worthlessness! IN a way that has no result or use and so is worthless. In a way that is false. that indicates the content of the claim is not true, with a special focus that this content is worthless for ascertaining the truth so of no effect.
Loved ones - one of the most dangerous conditions a person could be in it Carrying the name of Jesus In VAIN.
I came across a post that was recently was on Instagram.
It was a post that restated the words of a man who is a professional life coach and here is what this guys said he does.
I quote “I help people take the necessary steps to create the life they love”
Here is what this Instagram post said -
“There will come a time when you choose your Self - (and self in the post was capitalized)
and the rest of the post said “And this will be the beginning”
And I wanted to comment and finish the post -
“This will be the beginning... of the end”
Loved Ones - Here clearly the call of Jesus - The Gospel calls for the opposite of self - a Life to God.
A life that can be defined as crucified with christ -
God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, who was crucified for the eternal benefit of others. For the eternal benefit of His creation.
Our life as Jesus followers is a life where finding our meaning purpose and value is in God, living for God and giving glory to God in a living active purposeful relationship with Jesus, is what following Jesus is all about.
Loved one - this is the life as Jesus followers we are to pursue -
And we must admit, in all humility, our ongoing need for Jesus, under the generosity of God’s grace that we do it imperfectly and we do it stumbling and failing along the way -
Part of this life that Jesus calls us to, is the way in which we deal with the money that God allows to flow through our life.
Jesus himself said “where you treasure is there you heart is also”
You see when we put self first - what happens to us is we find ourselves in a condition of materialism -
Materialism - I actually looked that one up
materialism is the belief that material possessions and physical comfort are more important that spiritual values and or people.
People who are into materialism have a level of infatuation that varies from small to large with the acquisition and possession of physical objects that is greater that the pursuit of spiritual experiences, values and or Relationship with other people!
TENSION
We are all very much discipled into the culture of Materialism.
You may say - Disipled Pastor? - What do you mean?
WE have been trained by our culture to base the health and well being of our existence in what do our possession look like.
What do we possess?
Education? Type of Job? Level of Income? Housing type? Type of Car or Truck?
Size of financial resource portfolio?
Don’t think that is true?
What is the definition of Success in our western north american culture?
Try this one on - I have not seen anywhere in any advertising and any marketing that would say “you are a successful individual when you feed a thousand hungry people and clothe a thousand naked people or shelter a thousand homeless people.”
SO we are discipled into a culture, into a studentship of being and living under the influence of Materialism.
and becasue of this influence of materialism over our life time has made all of us have a heart beat of self.
And we all struggle with it.
What we will see and hear and feel this morning as we navigate principle number 6 from the whole council of scripture - Namely that God’s generosity is to be our generosity - What we will see and hear and feel is that Our generosity must be rooted and grounded in the generous heart of God.
You see loved ones the solution to our struggle with materialism is Generosity.
and not just our generosity based on reason but the Generosity of God poured out through our lives.
We are going to look at several passages this morning and we will begin in Romans 5 -
Lets look.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
What we have just heard and seen and experienced is the Maximal Narrative of the Gospel.
If anyone asks you “what is the Gospel” you could recite the 11 verses of Romans Chapter 5 and you would have given a complete Gospel Picture.
I want you to notice the wording of God’s generosity in this passage of text.
verse 1 - We have been justified by faith -
Means Someone makes us Justified by giving us faith.
WE have peace with God - Someone gave us that peace
Verse 2 - We have access by faith into Grace -
Who’s grace? Gods Grace!
Verse 5 - God’s Love has been “poured out”
Verse 6 - While we were still weak - Christ dies for the ungodly!
Who is that? You and me!
Verse 8 - While we were yet sinners Christ dies for US!
God gave His physical Life FOR US!
VERSE 9 - Justifies by His Blood - Not by our works or our condition but BY HIS Blood.
We are SAVED from the wrath of GOD!
You see loved ones this is the generosity of God - That the Love of God is poured out on us and We are saved by His blood - Saved From God saved By God Saved TO God and Saved FOR GOD.
VERSE 10 - We were enemies of God - God reconciled us - Meaning God repaired our relationship to Him -
How By the physical death of His Son - Jesus Christ -
So we look at the generosity of God and Verse 11 Paul writes that becasue of this supernatural and unbelievable generosity to reconcile Enemies and take away the wreath due sinners by giving of himself.
Paul says “we rejoice” the cause of our rejoicing? - The lord, our master, Jesus Christ who provided to us reconciliation.
That is the Gospel!
I love Romans 11 - Because it displays the severity of the Gospel - The Gospel is severe - Severe in its love - Severe in its wrath- Severe in its saving - severe in its cruelty - Severe in it power and severe in its cause!
Severe in its Love and severe in its generosity!
Lets look at another one -
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
We - that is you and me ad all who are saved and regenerated to new life - Saved by Grace through faith - Repentant unto salvation.
We possess something - We HAVE the text says -
We have forgiveness of our trespasses -
Through His Blood -
Justified - Justice for our sin and rebellion distributed out on the person of Jesus and His blood provided the instrument of our forgiveness.
WHY? Look at vs 7 Because of the Riches of his Grace -
You see God has grace - Here is the correct way to think about this - God IS GRACE - the nature of God is Grace -
So, becasue God IS grace and he is infinite - He has an unlimited amount of Grace -
Jeff Bezos in all of his money has a limited amount - He could spend it all -
But God will never spend all of His grace.
What did God do with that Grace?
VS 8 - He LAVISHED it upon us -
He Lavished His grace - Here is the interesting part of what the word means - It means to Give enough to be rich in - It means Superabundance - IT means - Superfluous. Way way way too much -
God did this with all wisdom and insight - making known to us and all the world - According to His purpose which He set forth for the fullness of Time- In Christ Jesus.
If you had not noticed - Ephesians Chapter 1 - Vs 3-14 is another Gospel presentation.
Lavished upon us His unlimited riches of Grace.
Lets look at another -
34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
Romans God's love poured out -
Ephesians - Gods Grace Lavished -
Gospel of John - His Spirit given WITHOUT MEASURE
SO HOW Do we RESPOND?
James - Jesus Half Brother -
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Here is what Jams is saying - One of the works of Faith in Christ is to be transformed into the Image of Christ - One of those images is Generous -
It is interest that James places the work of faith in this picture of Generosity -
VS15
Notice Jame is not saying that there are people who are asking for Help -
What he places out there is if we notice that some one is lacking clothing or food - Daily Food - The basics -
and all we do is say ‘go i peace - and we do nothing to support their individual human flourishing -
James says “That kind of faith has not works becasue it does not reflect the generosity of God and it is dead”.
Listen Loved ones this heartbeat that James has comes directly from the heartbeat of Jesus when Jesus told the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.
remember that one -
Mathew Chapter 25:
Jesus is talking about His second coming and all of the people groups will be before Him - He will separate all the people of the earth into tow groups -
Sheep on the right and Goats on the Left.
You guys find it interesting that the latest acronym for goat is Greatest of all time.
Jesus doesn't think so -
In this Parable Sheep get into the kingdom to receive their treasure that they have been storing up up there and they hear Jesus say - “Come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
and the Goats they loose everything and become objects of God wrath for ever.
Jesus says to the Goats: Depart from me you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
The reason - Because the sheep Followed the Shepard into the Generosity of God -
The Goats - Self was king -
How did that happen Pastor?
Well in this Parable that Jesus spoke - He said that the sheep did some things and the goats did not.
The Sheep -
When people were hungry they fed them
When People were thirsty they gave something to drink.
When People were naked they clothed them.
When people were a stranger, a homeless person, they invited them in and opened their home and welcomed them in .
When people were sick they visited and cared for them
When people were in prison they came to them.
Goats didn't do any of those things.
You see the sheep used their resources for the advancement of the Kingdom through the proclamation of the Gospel by word and in the aspect of supporting and sustaining human flourishing in other words “in deed”
You see loved ones the Gospel is shared in word and in deed.
This is why James uses thing illustration when He says Faith without works is dead.
There is Blessing of Salvation when we are generous as God is generous.
and it comes with a promise of being sustained for all good works.
God will provide.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
Just look at what it say and hear what it promises.
Paul writes to Timothy and give a warning and a charge to the church in Ephesus -
The church that timothy was the lead Pastor and Elder of and A church filled with rich people.
17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
Here is the Charge -
Do good - Be rich in good works - Be generous - Ready to share.
Jesus says it this way:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
AS we step into communion and come to the table of Jesus.
I want to place this principle before you! In the whole of scripture both old testament and new there is this Idea of Offerings -
Offerings are giving that we do - Over and above the Tithe.
A Tithe - We Bring a Tithe, 10% of our income of our increase to God becasue That belongs to God and that is for the advancement of the Gospel
We Give and offering - an offering to the Lord to support and sustain Human flourishing -
Here is how they intersect - When we are faithful with Tithes - bringing to God what is His and Giving of Offerings we now have an abundance of resources to share the Gospel in word and in deed.
Feeding hungry people
Giving thirsty people something to drink
Clothing naked people
Sheltering the homeless who are strangers
Caring for Sick people
Ministering to those who are imprisoned
Human flourishing is Expensive - So we Bring the Offerings to the lord
Share The Power of the Collective
In His book “the hole in our Gospel” Author Richard Stearns who is the president of World vision -
World Vision is an organization who mission is to bring access to fresh drinking water to the people of the world that do not have access to it.
You might say “Pastor there are people who don't have access to fresh drinking water?
Yes about 1.7 Billion people. 1/6th of the population of the planet.
In Richards book which was a transforming read for me years ago.
Richard says this “The American Church is the wealthiest community of Christians in the history of Christians.”
Loved ones we are the richest Jesus followers since the resurrection.
Richard Continues “Imagine how stunning it would be to the watching world for the American Christians to gave so generously that it:
Brought an end to world hunger
Solved the clean water crisis
provided universal access to drugs and medical care world wide form those who suffer from AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis.
Wiped out the 15000 child deaths in the thirds world
Provided education for every child in the world.
provided a safety net for the world orphans.
Church Loved ones you might say - Wow pastor that could cost an insurmountable amount of money.
Richards team calculates those are the global problems solved with Just the Tithe of the american christian
Those have nothing to do with offerings -
Pastor - those are far away what about Here.
Back in 2020 - I read an article on social media that told the story of a local restaurant that has a rater famous beer garden attached to it with over 100 different beers on tap -
This restaurant did a great thing - It raised $25000 to cover the cost of young girls open heart surgery.
When I read that Article - I though of two things 0
Yea for the young girl - Man why didn't the Body of Jesus - The local church do that.
Imagine with me for a minute how stunning it would be for the watching community of New Braunfels and Canyon lake if we as a church said:
We can solve that -
But how? How can we do that?
What do we do?
How do we take the Word of God that clearly call of our generosity and walk that out in our lives and store up treasures in heaven.
Here are couple of suggestions as we come to the table of Jesus.
A - be great tippers at restaurants - When you go to eat tip 20 25 or 30 % - Live Generously when you are served by some one -
I have kids and people I know what work in the restaurant business and they will tell you that with out question the worst shift to pull is Sunday lunch becasue the church shown up - And the church doesn’t tip and they are rude and they leave bible tracks and blessings but that doesn't pay rent or put food on the table.
Gospel must be shared in word and in Deed.
2 - Pray - Listen to the promptings of God - See someone in need - Fill it. Fix it Provide IT.
3 - Find a missionary to give to -
4 - Find a local ministry partner to give to and serve with - We have several - Comal County Habitat for Humanity - the CRRC food bank - Young Life of Canyon lake -Options for Life.
Live a generous life, store up treasure in heaven, let the watching world here in New Braunfels and Canyon lake around us be stunned at the things we solve together in our local community and let our light Shine as we share the Gospel in both word and in deed.
COMMUNION
Acknowledgement of our need for Jesus to prepare for the table of Jesus–
The Scriptures tell us that when we come to the table of Jesus it is a time of remembrance – A time of thinking about what Jesus has done and accomplished on the cross – A time of remembering why Jesus did what He did. And So as the people who have been called out of darkness, we take time to contemplate and to repent –
Repentance is a turning to Jesus again and again and again – In the life of a follower of Jesus it is never a once and done thing. The Bible tells us that if we agree with God “we confess” in the ways we have rebelled against God “our sin” He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and clean us from all unrighteousness.
So, to prepare our hearts to come to the table of Jesus, as a community, we spend time in prayerful contemplation, agreeing with God trough confession, the areas of our life where we have rebelled against Him, where Jesus still needs to do some work and touch us and heal us.
When we do this we encourage you to take a posture of Humility, as we spend the next minute or so in silent contemplation.
A posture of humility to you might be to stay in your seat with your eyes closed and your head bowed, you might stand with your eyes lifted to heaven and your arms and hands raised as Solomon did when he prayed, you might come and kneel here at the front or there Where you are seated – whatever that is to you, let us take a posture of humility, agreeing with God through prayerful confession the way where we have rebelled against Him as we prepare our hearts to participate in the table of Jesus.
Pause for 60 seconds in prayerful contemplation
Assurance of our forgiveness through the table.
As we come to the table of Jesus together, we are reminded of the assurance of our forgiveness. Because we openly and actively declare the Gospel as we participate in communion together. The poured out blood of Jesus and the death of His body as he joyfully took upon Him self the wrath of God that was due us.
Unity of the Table
When we come to the table of Jesus, we are spiritually united together. Paul says in this letter to the Corinthians “that Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”
So as we come to the table of Jesus we are spiritually united together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are also united with Jesus in his death and resurrection at His table.
Participation at the Table
BREAD: On the night He was betrayed, He gathered His disciples for a Passover meal. While they were eating Jesus took some bread; after He blessed it and gave thanks to the Father: He broke it, gave it to His disciples and said: “Take this all of you and eat of it, for This is My body, which is for you; when you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Eat the Bread with Everyone
CUP: After the meal, in the same way He took the cup, again gave thanks to the Father. He took the Cup and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink of this cup. This cup is the cup of my blood. The blood of the New and Everlasting covenant. My blood which will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins for many; when you do this, as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Drink the Cup with Everyone
PRAYER TEAM!
NEW MEMBERS Mike and Vicky McCown