I'm Invested

Recap

Acts 2 gives us a beautiful picture of what the church can look like on its best day!

Eph 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Every day we wake up there is a divinely designed plan God wants us to follow. Serving God and walking in his call upon our lives is one thing we don’t want to be missing out on.

So far:

Invited - ALL of us have a place in God’s family. This doesn’t mean we get to carry on in sin…

Invaluable - we have all been gifted by the same Spirit, in different ways, to serve God. Sometimes we lay down old gifts for a time, rekindle gifts or find we have been gifted in new/fresh ways.

Accountable - discipleship in community

Influential - spheres of influence where we can share the gospel: neighbourghood, places we shop, where we work, our family, social settings

Today: INVESTED. Yes, a sermon on GIVING. 25% of what Jesus talked about was in relation to finances. 25% of our sermons are not on this topic, so count yourselves lucky!

What are you invested in?

What you spend your time doing, where you spend your money and what you devote your skills/talents to will reveal something of your investment…

E.g. Season ticket to watch sport. Football or rugby… rain or shine, sometimes home and away, face paints on, in the kit and shouting like a crazy person! In and of itself I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing something like this, but what we need to keep in mind is that it is temporary. We are making an investment in something which might outlast us, but will not last forever! Why would we want to make short term investments on earth when we could be making long term, eternal investments?

What are you spending time/energy storing up when you could be pouring out?

Matthew 6:19-21 ““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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Vision - Generous & Thankful

By now YOU KNOW it is my heart to see Pinhoe Road reach more people for Jesus, to see lives transformed in this neighbourhood and beyond. It is my hope, prayer and goal to see Christians walking in the plan/purpose God has prepared for them and seeing the kingdom breaking in in new and exciting ways in our networks, in our places of influence.

One of the ways we do this is by responding to the generosity of God in Jesus by mirroring that generosity in our worship and service. We give and serve glady and thankfully because of what Jesus has done for us.

In order to reach as many people as possible we need people who are invested in God’s church! In an age where cinsumerism is rife even within the church (‘what can I get out of the church?’) we need people who are willing to be consumed as they step into and follow God’s call on their lives.

Giving to God

There are three ways we give to God:

Time - what do get up to? Do we make the most of our time or are we wasting it?!

Talent - we have touched on this in ‘I’m Invaluable’

Treasure - this is about our resources.

GIVING (time, talent or treasure) is difficult! This is one of the hardest areas for many Christians. Why? Many people live with a scaricty mindset. We say ‘I will give more when I’ve got more to give’ but the command of God is to give now, not when it suits us! We say ‘I will free up some time and then when I have spare time I will give it to God’, but what if God wants us to be making ourselves available to him now?!

What I want us to do if we are not there already is move to a ‘faith’ mindset. You see, as I’ve already said a scarcity mindset will always say ‘I don’t have enough’ but a faith mindset is knowing that what we keep is all we have, and what we give to God he will multiply.

This is illustrated for us perfectly in Luke’s gospel as Jesus has spent FAR too long preaching and now the disciples are hungry! Their suggestion is to dismiss the crowds, Jesus solution (and challenge!) is for them to feed the 5000+++

Luke 9:10–17 ESV

On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Disciples - challenged by Jesus to do something with what little they had.

Short of God’s miraculous power what they had wasn’t ever going to feed those people.

But what they had, they made available to God. Jesus blessed it and it was multiplied!

Enough was left over to show the disciples that God can do more than they might ever care to ask or realise!

Building Project. Fundraising to meet the shortfall. It is my prayer that God would leave us with more leftover than we might have imagined when we consider the way the cost of the project added up.

Getting ahead… Let’s slow down.

In thinking about GIVING we need agree a starting point: Everything we have comes from God. Bible says:

Romans 11:36 “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Psalm 145:15-16 “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

Matthew 6:25-34 - a long discourse from Jesus, highlighting to us the care God has for birds and plants which points to an even greater care for the children of God made in the image of God!

Time

God created time:

Genesis 1:4-5 “And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

Our time is limited:

Job 14:5 “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,”

Ps 139:16 “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

We should use it well:

1 Cor 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Killerton: Chapel of the Holy Evangelists - in 1934 Electricity was fitted to the chapel by an act of generosity ‘to the Glory of God’

A helpful biblical example

Striking a balance is VITAL. Don’t miss me saying this… We don’t want to be doing it all, burning ourselves out and depriving people of an opporunity to serve.

Remember TREOH - we are striving to build/establish healthy and helpful patterns and practices to give us life and spiritual vibrancy.

We might have to ask ourselves the hard question… Where is my schedule so full it is stopping me from being available to God and his people?

Treasure

1 Chronicles 29 ESV

And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God. So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house, and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the Lord?” Then the leaders of fathers’ houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work. They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly. Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.” Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king. And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the Lord, and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. And the Lord made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel. Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer, with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.

vv1-5 -

vv6-9 -

vv10-19 -

vv20-22 -

Malachi 3:10 ESV

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Closing Illustration

On bonfire night I spent a tenner on a game of football. I watched Saints on the TV. I put my shirt on and sat down on the sofa. Far cheaper and more convenient than going to watch the game in person. I put on one of my ‘end of season’ Saints shirts (I’m too stingy to buy a new one at the start of each season - I go for the end of season clearance!). On reflection I think it was a tenner well spent and not the usual ‘that’s two hours of my life I won’t be getting back’ (which is every hour by the way…). I got to see Adam Armstrong score a half volley from outside the box and I still don’t think the groundsmen will have picked it out of the net he hit it so hard. It was glorious!

BUT. How fleeting and inconsequential is it really?

On New Years Eve after a couple of glasses of milk as I reminisce about the year gone by I doubt Friday 5th November will feature. I definitely don’t think it will feature as we move from the 2020’s into the 2030’s - Southampton FC are unlikely to make my decade ‘best of’ although ‘PLEASE LORD JESUS CAN SAINTS DO A LEICESTER?!’

A football shirt and a win are temporary treasures. Things which will fade into insignificance. Things easily destroyed by moth and rust, easily forgotten and surpassed…

However, there is something I have done this year which as I look at the time it consumed me and the small financial contribution I made, will remind me of how GREAT and AWESOME God is. The entrance and renovation work, which I walk through every Sunday morning (and you do too), is not lost on me and I will not forget the moment I saw it all opened out for the first time and EVERYTHING I’d done and given was worth it. ALl of my mistakes and frustrations, all of my limited contributions and prayers, had been used by God and this matters!

Are you with me?

I don’t want any of us here to just be looking on, but being involved! I hope many of us will be able to look back with emotional stories of how God used our giving for his glory! As we use our time, talent and treasure these will be the joy of the Lord moments we might recount on our deathbed as we prepare to face Jesus, having run the race and hear the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant.’

Pray