Compelled By The Grace of Generosity
AI Transcript
Amen, amen, man. Out of the mouths of babes, you have ordained praise, Lord.
Well, it's a joy to be with you this morning. Thank you for just making this a priority to come out. And if you're visiting again, we're excited. You get to see some of what God is doing in our midst this morning. So last night, well, yesterday Rick texted me, hey, how are you feeling? I'm like, I feel great. I'm going to sleep fine. But I didn't. And at 2 o'clock, I woke up and...
I just felt like the Lord was saying this to me, so I was like, I've got to write this down. So I'm just going to read to you my 2 AM thoughts.
I have a fear that we might be a church that has the word compelled written on our t-shirts and on our banners and on our websites and on our series guides but for some of us maybe many of us compelled is not written on our hearts in our love and affection for our
for Jesus, for one another, for our neighbors and the nations. That compelled is not written on our hands and our acts of love and service. That compelled is not written on our minds. That the love of Christ doesn't consume our thoughts because we're too distracted and entertained by the lesser things of this world.
I fear that we might even be able to reach our financial goal and build this church building by giving to God only a portion of our leftovers because we are so abundantly wealthy that we don't feel the need to give sacrificially. That would be a great adventure in missing the point. That would be a tragedy. Lord, please do not let that happen. Compel us Lord to live by and for Christ's love.
That's why we're doing this. That's why we've gathered. That's where we've been for the last six weeks. So don't know how you come into this room this morning, whether it's excited or skeptical or fearful. And each week as I preach, know this, when I preach with zeal, it's because I'm preaching to myself.
Each week when I'm like, we got to do this is because I'm like, I got to do this. I'm first and foremost a church member before I'm your pastor. And so I'm with you in this as well. so, again, if I need some encouragement, excitement, I'll go to Doris in the front here. And Doris, few weeks ago, came up to me. I'm so excited for what God's doing. I'm like, tell me more about that. She's like, I can't wait to see what God's going to do. Yeah, tell me more. She's like, we're going to write scriptures on the wall. We're going to put a
Bible in the foundation. like that's an awesome idea. She's like I just I've never been a part of something like this. I'm like thank you I'm just gonna put you on speed dial whenever whenever I need that. Thank you Doris. But yeah you know
If you open up this word, and I fear that maybe part of our apprehension on even a day like this where we talk a lot about money, our apprehension comes from a couple different places. You've seen the clowns on television.
And then you project that on every other church and pastor like, oh, someone abused this once and therefore we don't have and that's a way to kind of deflect and shield our hearts. And the other thing is I fear that we don't know this word. You know, if you read this from cover to cover 500 times, you're to learn and read about what is faith. That's pretty important. What is faith? About 500 times you're to read about what does it mean to pray in faith?
Then 2,000 times you're gonna read about money But that's crazy, right? We don't talk about it like that You read Jesus's teachings at 25 % of his teachings. It's about money We're like, That just makes us feel uncomfortable from the get-go But why does he talk about money so much? Have you ever thought about that? Why did he put this in his his word for us?
Listen, it's not because Jesus is looking for donors. He's pursuing disciples. That's why he talks about money all the time. Jesus doesn't need donors for the kingdom of God. He doesn't need anything for the kingdom of God. He's inviting us to follow in His way. And He knows that the number one thing competing for your affection, competing for your worship.
is your money. just has this way. The Bible calls it mammon. When the good things of God come into our lives but they become God things, the Bible describes it as mammon. It's this spiritually dark demonic thing that wraps its hands around our hearts, begins to constrict our hearts, and we look to money for things that only God can give us.
We look to our money for our significance, our safety, our comfort, our future. And Jesus is like, don't do that. Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. This is why Jesus talks about money all the time. He doesn't need your money. But he wants your heart. He wants our heart. The problem is...
We live between Solomon and Job. Solomon had everything. Like in today's standards, he's a trillionaire. He had and pursued everything. At the end of his life, he talks about, I went down all the roads you think lead to happiness. He had women. That's in the Bible.
hundreds and hundreds of women sexual experience. He says that's meaningless. He had all the money. He threw these parties, ragers, good parties, food and drink, wine, good parties. And at the end of the party, be like, it's not quite enough. But he had the means to just amp it up a little bit more next time and amp it up more next time. And people would sing his praise and he gets to the end of his life. He's like, that was meaningless.
And he goes through all these things that we think will bring us happiness in this life. And he gets to the end of it and he writes Ecclesiastes like all of that is meaningless apart from God. The problem is none of us are there. And all of us think, well, maybe Solomon was wrong. If I could just go down his roads, I would find happiness. That's just the way mammon trains our heart. Trust in me. Worship me.
And then on the other hand, have Job. Job's on the other. None of us are there as well. We all have pain and suffering in our life, but none of us have been stripped by everything of our health and our family and our wealth. Everything gets stripped from Job. at the end, he says, God is enough. God is more than enough. And so we live between the two. None of us want to go towards Job.
And all of us want to go towards Solomon. And we live in this kind of world in Parker, Colorado, where all of our homes are nice and our neighbors are nice and they're nice. And we just think this is normal. It's just normal. The Bible says, man, God has so much more for you. God has so much more for us as a church.
And so this morning as we come to our last week and our last passage, if you have a series guide, it's on page 64. If you have a Bible, we've been launching from 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14 each week into another passage in 2 Corinthians 5 14. writes to the church at Corinth. He says, for Christ's love compels us. Christ's love compels us. That means the whole
Motives operandi of our lives is the love of Christ and then he begins to unpack that and show that in the next several verses Different ways and at the end of our passage in 25 21 it says this God made him who had no sin to be sin for us So that in him we might become the righteousness of God Now
I say that verse all the time. But here's the reality. None of us can understand that verse really.
Think about what I just said. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. If that if we could wrap our hearts around just that reality, we would never complain. We would never say, God, why don't you give me this job? Why don't you give me more stuff? Why do I? Why don't you give me a spouse? Why don't you give me more kids? Like, have you understood every day that Jesus became sin in your place? You would praise God.
Every day it would be more than enough to fuel your praise. God made him to be sinned who had no sin. This coming Friday, our Good Friday service is probably my favorite service because it is the most contemplative focus on that verse that we do all year long.
we talk about and ponder. And again, we can't ever fully understand this. I don't even know that we will in eternity that Jesus on the cross takes our sin. He takes our unrighteousness. He takes our penalty. And then in that place, gospel is that He gave us perfect life. He gave us His righteousness and the eternal kingdom. If we understood that, we would live so much differently, right?
God wants something for us, not something from us in our generosity. He wants to unleash something in our lives. So our passage this week is a few chapters after 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul is continuing to apply by the Spirit of God to the Corinthian church and now to the church at Redemption Park. What does it look like to live compelled by the love of Christ?
And as I studied this passage chapters eight and nine even though the Bible says a lot I've already said it says a lot about our generosity about our money chapter eight and nine is the longest section continuous section where where this is dealt with. And in chapters eight and nine Paul is going to unpack some things for us. But as I studied this week and I've never preached this passage these chapters in 30 years of preaching.
And I also just realized, man, if the Lord saw fit to put that much in His Word, then I've done you a disservice for nine years when I've only really preached maybe two or three actual messages on God releasing generosity through our lives. And so I repent of that.
Because God actually has something for us in this. And as I studied this passage I was I was actually blown away. I learned things every week when I preach by the way I learned things. Again I'm a member I'm I'm in process. But but but what I learned this more this this week my prayers and Lord put this in our hearts because it changes everything. It gives us a radical new perspective on all all of our lives and all of our stuff.
So Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8. says, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace. And that word grace there is actually the key word in chapter 8. It's going to come up seven times. Chapter 9, it's going to come up five times. We're not going to get into all of it because we'd be here all day and we got to move on. But he says, I want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
Paul writing to the Corinthian churches Corinth is probably the wealthiest church in all of the Roman Empire just by virtue of the economy that flowed through there and we'll see Macedonia was probably the poorest church in all of the Roman Empire and Paul writes he says I want you to look at the Macedonians
So much of our Christian maturity comes through others walking in that maturity, learning from them. Okay, so for example, you want to be a good husband? Surround yourselves with men who love their wives like Christ loves the church. And you'll grow in that way.
You want to be a good parent? Surround yourself with Christian community that others have gone before you and are pouring into their kids the gospel. Modeling Christianity is one of the ways that Christ grows us.
The other way is through his word and the model of his word. You know that the New Testament is written not to just make you feel good about yourself. It's not not about that. You know what all the letters of the epistles are written for? Your maturity.
That we would grow up and be like Christ in every area of our lives. And there's there's all these areas like Paul will say to the Romans, like if you've got this gift walk in it, if you got this gift walk in it, if it's leadership, if it's acts of service, if it's generosity walk in it. Why? Because we all need to see other people walking in maturity. So we learn what it looks like to walk in maturity in every area of our life. And the area that Jesus talks the most about
We don't. We don't tell each other about our finances. We don't share that. And maybe some of you are walking in amazing maturity, but we live in this culture where the enemy has lied to us and said, don't tell anyone about your generosity. And the church is poor spiritually because of that.
Paul doesn't do that. He says, want you to look at the Macedonian church. God has been pouring grace upon grace upon grace into that church. And I want it for you, Corinthians. I want it for you, Redemption Parker. This is I know, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. And then when he says next, just so doesn't make sense. It blows our minds how these things can be put together. Look what he says in the midst of a very
not just a trial, very severe trial. I don't know what that looks like. That sounds bad. If I'm in the midst of a very severe trial, what I think grace looks like is God taking me out of the very severe trial. That's what I'm praying for, right? Why wouldn't you? I don't think that's wrong. But listen what he says, in the midst of a very severe trial, there overflowing joy. What?
How do you have overflowing joy and severe trial? Well, it's not just that he says they're overflowing joy and their extreme poverty not just poverty Extreme poverty. This is like scraping by missing meals Just trying to survive to the next day kind of church Weld up in rich generosity what? What what do you mean?
We actually see this all the time because generosity shows up in our hearts long before it shows up in our hands. That those often that have the least have the most generous hearts. It just is. Maybe because they're not as tied to the things of this world. You can be greedy and poor, yes. But those that know Jesus, Paul says there's this grace that comes to us.
We don't think of our giving as God's grace to us. Here's the first truth. When we give, it's not only about a response to God's grace, as we often talk about, it is God's grace to us. When you give, it is God's grace to you. And if you've ever tasted the grace of God, genuinely, you want more of it.
And so that's the first thing that kind of blew my mind. This was God's grace. He says for I testify that they gave as much as they were able. And even beyond their ability. What? That's irresponsible. It feels irresponsible. Look at you have extreme poverty, affliction, persecution from the Roman government. You're barely getting by. And the church is like, got to give to the work of the Lord.
They have some some Christ likeness as we'll see that's why they're able to do it. Look what it says. They gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability entirely on their own.
They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service of the Lord's people. Imagine that conversation. Paul's just stopping by on his way back to Jerusalem. He's like Macedonian church I've heard about what's going on. just want to pray for you. Let's pray for God's abundant blessing to come in your life and like OK that's great. Yeah pray all that Paul but but we're going to take an offering. He's like no you don't take an offering. I see I see how you don't you're missing meals as it is. What do you mean take an offering.
I know Paul, you don't understand. Yeah, it's because we are so afflicted. It's because we're in such a severe trial that the grip of our hearts in this world has been released. We want to live for eternity. Do not rob us of this privilege to invest in eternity, Paul. And Paul's like, I can't argue with that. And he takes their offering.
It says, they urgently for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. Why were they able to do this? It says, and they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves, here's why, first of all to the Lord. They gave themselves first of all to the Lord. If we do that, we're good.
But like, imagine giving so generously that you like miss so many meals, you starve to death. And you wake up in heaven and you go, whoops.
Right?
They gave them all first of all to the Lord and then by the will of God also to us. So we urge Titus just as he had earlier made a beginning to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part Corinthians. The Corinthians had made a commitment. They said when you come back through we're going to give to the work of the Lord. And so he's sending Titus and he's like hey just to remember you made a commitment. Titus is coming but.
Think about the Macedonians and they says this, but since you excel in everything, you're growing and maturing as a church in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you. See that you also excel in this grace of giving.
The New Testament is calling us to mature and look like Jesus. And Paul's like, hey, you've got a lot of maturity, but you got a lot of ways to go. See that you excel in this grace of giving. This is not a suggestion, church. This is not, hey, if you get around to it, also mature in this area. Like, we gotta stop reading our Bibles like,
I'll do it out. This is the Lord's word. Do you believe that? Do believe this is commands from God for our joy? So the second truth that kind of blew my mind as I was just spending time in this is this, that what we give from is more important than what we give to.
What we give to is massively important. I'm not downplaying that at all. We've talked about we want to for the next generation for our neighbors and the nations to the 10th generation. Those are all things we're giving to. But Paul is showing something. What we give from from a heart radically transformed by the gospel is far more important than what we give to. This is what it means to be compelled by the love of Christ. That's why they did it because they gave first of all. But how because of the gospel. Look at verse nine.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich." This is the Gospel. This is Christmas. Right?
Jesus on His throne in glory looks down on His creation. Men and women made in His image living in rebellion and sin and under the just condemnation of God's wrath. And Jesus does not turn His eye and turn His back to us.
At just the right time he entered into our time and our space. He put on flesh. He's born to a penniless mother and father. He grows up in poverty. He grows up in obscurity. He goes public for three years to tell people about the kingdom of God. And then he goes to the cross. What we will observe this week. And he opens up his arms to show how much he loves the world. And his arms are nailed to the cross. And the one possession, his only earthly possession is then
Stripped from him his cloak so that he hangs naked to bear our shame on the cross he who was rich Became poor so that you and I could become rich forever Like this is why Jesus talks so much about money He's like listen live in such a way that you're living in light of your eternal future
Release the grip of this world to live for that world. I will give everything so that you can have an internal inheritance that you and I will be not only sons and daughters, kings and queens reigning and ruling forever. This is the gospel. This is the only way that we can have a heart transformed.
to reflect the kind of generosity Jesus gave us. Did you see the sequence? Do you see why it makes so much sense for the Macedonian church now to live and love and to give like this? Because they know it's God's grace. Again, we could go so much further. I don't have time for all that.
In a few moments, we're going to have a time of reflection before we make our commitments. But in chapter nine, maybe during that time, you can just read and reflect on verses six through the end of the chapter. But I'll just read the verses, just a few of them, six through eight. Paul writes this in chapter nine. Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver, a joyful giver. The word is Hilaron. He loves a hilarious giver. It should look crazy to the world. Our generosity. What are they? They're they're laughing. That looks like a cult.
They're laughing as they give away all their stuff.
You can argue with the text, that's what it says.
And then he says, and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Again, our radars go up, hey, prosperity gospel, twist this and makes this wrong. it says, listen, this is not a prosperity gospel church. Don't put that on us.
This is just saying God has entrusted us not for ourselves, but for the sake of eternal kingdom with so much live in light of that. You know, last week we talked about to the 10th generation where David brings Solomon forward and brings all of Israel and he charges him. Hey, you're going to build this temple, do the work, be courageous, press on. And then in chapter 29, the next chapter.
David goes first and he gives extremely generously. And he had the means to do so. But then the leaders, they go and they give extremely generously. And then the people of all of Israel are like, we want in on this. And they give extremely generously. In that moment, they could have patted themselves on the back. They could have said, hey, we're good. Look at us. Look how generous we are. And David in his prayer is just overwhelmed by this reality. says this.
In 1 Chronicles 29, 14 and 16. But who am I? And who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you and we have given you only what comes from your hand. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your holy name comes from your hand and all of it belongs to you.
In a few moments when we drop our commitment cards in there, and God has blessed us differently and released generosity and different hearts, I get all that. But whatever number you put on there, know this, God gave that to you. God entrusted that to you. You didn't just come up with that.
God gave that to us. So how does God's grace flow to us through our generosity? Let me say there's probably 10,000 ways, but let me just give you a few examples. Because we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and was raised for us. That's God's grace to us. Because we realize that all we have is from God and for God and to God. That's God's grace to us. Because our generosity releases our grip on idols that promise security, control, and comfort that only God can give us.
Because we get to be a conduit of God's grace to others. We're not just redeemed, we are active participants in God's redemption in the world. That's God's grace to us. Because we get to invest in eternal things with a guaranteed return. This was all Jesus' whole point in Matthew chapter 6. A guaranteed return.
Because God's joy and gratitude flood our hearts and our minds when we give out of the overflow of God's love toward us in Christ. That is God's grace to us.
I want us to just reflect right now just on two questions. In light of these chapters, in light of the gospel, in light of being compelled by the love of Christ, the first one is this. Is my heart captured by the gospel? Is it captured by the gospel so that I can give with joy? Just think about that because it's going to come off. But is my heart captured by the gospel? Maybe you're like, I don't know if it is.
And that's where we pray that prayer that that man prayed to Jesus. Lord, I believe help my unbelief. I want to be there. I'm just not there. So Jesus will meet you in that spot. Is my heart captured by the gospel? And the second question is, do I trust God as the supplier of everything I have and everything I get? Like, no, no, no, I worked very hard for all this and I'm sure you did.
But you were born in the fourth century on a mountaintop in Nepal, how much would you have then? God has given you the circumstances of your life to bless you to be a blessing. So, do I trust God as the supplier of everything I have and everything I give? A few weeks ago, we had an incredible night.
It's called Advanced Commitment Night. In fact, I'm going to show a video here in just a second. Grant, you can go ahead and turn off the lights and drop that so they can actually see the people. But about 100 of us gathered over at the land to pray and to worship and to just go forward, just to spur one another on.
and it was an amazing night in our time. heard testimonies of people, what God was doing in their hearts, and so we wanted to encourage you with some of those testimonies, and so I'll let the video show you those.
The compelled initiative to us just means a place for us to call home. We've been searching for home and a place for our kids to feel at home. That's what Redemption Parker's been for us and we desire and long for the city of Parker to find home, a place where they belong and it's in God's kingdom.
Our commitment tonight just means that we're investing in Parker and our neighbors and our community. And we feel like our commitment is a way to be able to lean into our neighbors now and to the next generations. Being here tonight was really powerful, just being with everybody. And I got emotional at one point just thinking of the generations to come. Felt so full of faith and excitement of what the Lord is going to do for years to come.
This Compel campaign to me means that God is faithful to answer my prayer, to give me a glad and generous heart, and truly carry the Spirit of God into all areas of the world and into Parker. My Compel commitment means that I get to love the community I grew up in. Our Compel commitment means putting down roots where our kids and family will be known and loved and poured into, and getting to provide that opportunity for many more families to come.
Being here tonight has just been such a sweet time to just be with the body of believers here, people that have been here for days to weeks to months to years, and just see God's vision for the city of Parker, for this plot of land, for the neighbors around us, and just the opportunity to just to dig deep and to reach the lost that are just in the city around us.
This is just a step of faith that God will continue to provide for our needs while he uses RP to provide for so many people in this community. And that's where we're trusting God for through this. This compelled commitment means to us a place to know and be known, a place to establish roots for our children and their children and future generations. Being here tonight just meant so much. Being close to the land, lifting our voices together as a church family was just so beautiful.
and to get to have that vision cast into the future. I'm just so excited to be a part of this.
My family's compelled commitment means stepping into something bigger than ourselves, being a part of something bigger than ourselves. It is so exciting to think that if we all get together and we all use our resources, we all use our time, what is God gonna build out of that? That's one of the most exciting opportunities you could have with your money, with your time, with everything that everybody gives to this church. And in three or four or five years down the road, we're gonna look back and we're gonna be proud of what God built.
Being here tonight was an amazing experience, just being able to sing out in this beautiful creation, again, seeing mountains around us and snow around us, and just feeling God's presence. We're just like, this is where we belong. And so we feel compelled and are committed.
One year ago, almost to the exact date, we walked into RP not knowing what to expect and we were greeted with an amount of warmth and kindness that compelled us to come back. And standing here one year later, we have been compelled to give back to this church, hoping that future generations are able to feel the same way that we have felt for the past year.