The gift that sets us Free - Generosity.

In this talk, Luke unpacks why Jesus spoke so often about money—not to burden us, but to lead us into freedom. He explores how generosity forms our character, deepens our faith, and partners us with God’s work in the world. Drawing from Scripture and real-life stories, this message invites us to see giving not as loss, but as a way to truly live.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I want to share today though on a subject that may be a little bit of a maybe a bit of a trigger for you. So just a little trigger, a little trigger warning. We're going to talk about finance. I want to talk about finance and I want to talk to you about God's system of finance, God's way of finance, and the freedom that comes with God's way of finance. Okay? Sound good? Can we jump in? Okay. Just call this message the gift that frees you. Why generosity is not just an action, but it's a formation of our lives. And it's a faith step and it's a partnership with the work of God. So my life is not separate from the work of God. My life is included in the work of God that He is doing in the world right now. I am part of that. My life is part of that. And not just my Sunday life or the parts that I want to give, but all of my life is part of what God is doing in the world right now. So I'm sure you've had this tug of war in your heart before. I know I have. I've felt like I need to give something or maybe give something away or something that I like. I feel like I should contribute or give it away, but also there's this reluctance in my heart about I don't want to give it away. I want to hold on it because maybe I'll at some point I will need it. Any hoarders out there today? Um, God bless you. I see that hand. I see that. Um hoarding is this this thought of maybe one day I'm gonna need this for myself so I won't get rid of it, or I won't give it away, or I won't help somebody else. And I think we've all struggled with this. And Jesus talked about giving, he talked about finance and giving more than any other subject, and I think we all know why, because uh finance and and money has so much to do with our heart. It's really not about the physical, it's really about what's going on inside of us, it's about control, um, trust, it's about um entrusting my livelihood. Money represents so much of my time and my effort and my contribution. So it's it's a really important part of my life. Um, Jesus, when Jesus, we're gonna read from Matthew chapter 6, verse 24. Jesus spoke pretty strongly in this as his first sermon, his big opening ministry, and you're like, Jesus, don't talk about money on your first preach. People are gonna walk away. Talk about talk about love or something. Come on, Jesus. And he goes straight into it, he goes straight for the heart and he talks about he talks about this idea called mammon. He said, No one can serve two masters, either you hate one and you love the other, or you'll be devoted one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. I'll come back to that that word mammon in a second. These people that Jesus was speaking to, the Jewish people, there would have been others as well, but the Jewish people that Jesus was speaking to were highly taxed people. Okay? He wasn't just talking to rich elites who had surplus and they were like living it up, and Jesus was saying, you guys should be more generous. That wasn't the crowd. It was a poor crowd, and this crowd was taxed, probably we think somewhere between 35 and 50 percent of their physical uh agriculture was taken off them for the sake of building king's empires and king's buildings and um building an elaborate lifestyle for a certain few was taken off the poor. And Jesus, in the middle of that situation, he doesn't say, poor you, you guys should really hoard all you have. He says, guys, we should have a heart for giving. That's pretty astounding. That something deeply connected to our giving is what's going on in our hearts, and Jesus' desire is to bring freedom to their hearts in the middle of their oppression. It's quite astounding. He uses this word, notice he doesn't use the word money, he uses the word mammon. It's a funny word, mammon. Um mammon is basically a false god that is about wealth, um, an idolatrous spirit that seeks to replace trust in God with trust in money, offering security, identity, and power apart from God. So it's really the love and the reliance on money that Jesus goes after pretty hard. And he's saying, your reliance is not on money or on the love of money or the accumulation of money, it's on God. That's where our foundation is, that's where our trust is. So Jesus really treats this idea of Memmon as a rival spiritual force against God. It's a spiritual thing, it's not just um something physical, there's something behind it that is driving this desire for consumerism and the desire for more and more and more that we so often have. Does this make any sense to anyone? Because I've seen this in my own life. Um it becomes this idol which demands loyalty in our lives, it promises security and competes for our trust and our worship. So this word Mammon comes from the Aramaic word riches, which is a Syrian god of wealth. So Mammon wants to take the place of God and it promises certain things: identity, security, significance, peace, joy, freedom. If only I had these more things, then I would finally find peace and freedom and happiness, and joy is just out of my reach. It's just so ever elusive that if I just had more, I would be able to grasp it. And we've all heard this voice, haven't we? But these things are only things that God can really bring into your life. That's why you will go to some of the poorest nations in the world and you will see joyful, happy people because something is not connecting here. It doesn't seem like more bring them more joy inside. It was something deeper than that that we have missed. And not only not only that, but Mammon competes for our worship. Um, Baal or Molech, or there was other gods around at the time. They had literal idols that people used to bow down and worship, right? Um, mammon's a little bit different, had no temple, but it demanded the same devotion. Um, it doesn't just want your money, it wants your heart and your loyalty. Wants your heart. The spirit of more wants your heart, wants to pull your heart away from God. And Jesus says quite strongly, you can't serve both. You can't serve more and more and more in me and me and me, and build and build and build my empire and serve Jesus at the same time. It doesn't work. It's like an oxymoron, if that makes sense. It doesn't, it doesn't work like that. Mammon thrives on anxiety about money. Ever felt anxiety about money? I have comparison with other people. Look at their boat, look at their house. You know, ever been a young married couple and been broke and then gone to visit someone's house and it's beautiful and in your heart, you've got to guard your heart against comparison. You need to do that. Hoarding instead of trusting. I'll keep this because maybe I'll need it. Meaning I don't trust that God will supply if things go wrong. I need to gain more and more and more to hold that. And the lie that says, if I give away, I have less. That's what it whispers into our ear. Martin Luther said it like this. He said, Whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God. Whatever you cling to, whatever your heart relies on, that is really your God in practice. That's your God. And Mammon also speaks to us, right? It has a voice. It whispers, you can't afford to give. Um, if you give that, what are you gonna what am I gonna live on? What I'm gonna have less. You need to keep this in case something goes wrong. And notice how all of these things that it speaks to us is based on fear, not on faith, not on trust in a great loving God who cares about you deeply. It's based on fear. What if things go wrong? And we are called, as a follower of Jesus, we are called to a different vision of life than that. We're called to a different vision, a different way, a different tell us of what a good life means is different for us. And you have to come to grips with that as a Christian, guys. We are not living like the world. This is not our tell us of what the good life means to us. Jesus, Jesus' ways must become our ways. That's the vision statement of our church. And his ways are better, they just are. Have you experienced that in your life as Jesus' ways are better than your ways? A little bit quiet. Okay, here we go. Yeah. Um so let's talk about this. Why is it better? Jesus said this, it is better to give than it is to receive. That sounds crazy. I mean, I love any people here you like love languages like getting gifts. I feel like that's something great getting gifts. It's so fun. Um, but Jesus says, Jesus says giving away stuff is more blessed, it's more joyful. There's something more deep about it that's more fulfilling than it is even in receiving stuff. There's something that happens, and if you're a parent, you understand this, right? You you give and give and give, and your your kids will on maybe on Mother's Day or something, will write to you like the the you know, let's just say it's not no Picasso painting that they've given you. It's it's uh, you know, low standard. But you're it's so such a joy, but you're give you giving so much more to them than they're giving back to you. But it's so joyful to be able to give to your children. I feel so much joy in that. So, why do we give them? Why should we give? Why is giving better than receiving? Okay, let's have a talk about it. First of all, giving is about formation of your heart. And my heart. It's a detox from the God of more, it's a detox from consumerism. Um Jesus says, wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also, meaning your treasure follows your heart, and your heart follows your money. Giving is how we aim our hearts towards God's way of doing things. It's not a donation, it's a it's a discipline of renovation of the heart. Over and over and over. And I need it. I know from me, if I stop giving, it's not too long before I'm thinking about me, me, me. Giving is like an antidote to the selfishness which naturally bubbles up in my life. Um, Coma said it like this Um we don't give to earn blessing, we give because we're shaped into a person who trusts that blessing is already ours. It's a revelation that God has done so much in my life, my response to that is to become a person who is a giver. Where I love to see what's around me and how can I give into what's around me. The second thing I see is that that giving is an action step of faith. It's not just talking about it, giving is how I put legs on my faith. Whether it's giving my time and serving others, or giving a meal around my table, giving financially into need or vision or some passion. I it giving is faith in action. And that's super helpful. So if we see if we see our finance as not just a material thing, but there's something spiritual about the way that we operate around our finance, then when we give, we're creating need and we're creating space for God to actually do something in your life. If you don't have any testimonies about finance in your life, maybe it's because you haven't created any space for testimonies in your life, because all of your finance has been all about you. Does that make sense? The moment I give, I create space for God to do something in my life. There's need. God, I need you, and God will show you his faithfulness. And this is the journey that I've been on for um really since I became a Christian. Um, I don't come from a family who who would be very um giving or trusting with giving. Um, that was a new thing for me to become a Christian. Was like, giving away money, why would you do that? Um, we need to we're we're in survival mode here. But the thing is, we were always in survival mode, and I think part of that was was the way that we controlled and felt about finance. That was part of it. We couldn't get out of that because we couldn't trust God to do something in our lives. So giving doesn't just fund the work of God, it creates space in my life for God to do something. And that's really helpful. Okay, so faith makes you give, but also giving makes your faith grow. So this is this is two things happening at the same time. Trusting God. And then the third thing I see is giving is a practical way of partnering with God's work, vision and God's work. What is God doing and me being a part of that is connected to what I have to offer, even if it's small or large. And this is where I feel like being led by the voice of God is really, really powerful. Really powerful. Um in our church, we talk a lot about regular, responsible giving. So setting a pattern of giving in your life, which I feel like is a baseline, it helps you to establish a baseline of like guarding your heart against greed, um, partnering with something bigger than yourself. There's so many benefits to regular responsible giving, and that is a great thing. So I invite you to be part of that, but also there's some areas in your life that God wants to speak to you specifically about your life and what you can contribute into the work of the kingdom in the world. There's so many amazing things that you could give into, and God would love to lead you in that because your joy and your giving are linked. God wants to lead you into a place of freedom and joy in being partnering with his kingdom work. I know many people in our church uh support um compassion children. What a joy to be able to do that. Hope that you think about that often. What a joy to be able to do that. I think um there's there's so many in our church, it's incredible. Um, many of you give into missions partners overseas, stuff that you you may never see, but you hear the stories and you see the work of God in other parts of the world. What a joy to be able to give into that. I hope that you feel that. So let me ask you this: have you ever seriously asked God and waited for an answer on what you should give? You ever done that? Actually prayed about it. And I I throw this challenge out a lot, but I feel like I want to ask you have you actually ever stopped and prayed and said, God, what would you have me give? And then waited on the Spirit to give you an answer. Because He will. And what an adventure you would begin with that conversation with God. That that conversation is gonna lead you to a place of such joy and such faith. And if you think Christianity, your Christianity is a bit boring right now, I I I encourage you, ask God what he'd have you give, and it will become more exciting. Because he will take you on an adventure of trusting him and seeing God work in ways you haven't before. I was sitting across the table from at an alpha dinner uh last week with a very, very wealthy and successful business person in in London last week. And I was just we were just talking about this, and she said to me, I don't think about how much should I give. I don't think about that anymore. I think about how much should I keep? That is the reference of where my life is, and I thought, what an exciting way to what it what a radical way to live. Not thinking about how much can I keep and maybe I can give away crumb. She's thinking, how much do I need to live well, how much do I need to live, and then give away everything else. That's that's that's basically what she was saying. She's not increasing her living standards as her money goes up, she was increasing her giving standards as her money goes up and keeping the same standards. Does that make sense? That is a radical way to live. And I and I was looking at her life, and as we talked for a couple of hours, I could see the depth and the joy in her life. Um, it wasn't long after that that um her three sisters were also there. They all came over and prayed over me, and for about half an hour, just prayed over us and encouraged our church for about half an hour. And you could see the joy and the fruit of that family's life as they you could see the generosity of their lives and the joy and the depth of the family and the generations that were there. It was just an amazing thing to watch. And I thought something in me was saying, I I want that in my life. So I think we need to get away from this idea of I want to give to charity, I'm gonna support someone else's distant work, and um sometimes there's guilt attached to that, if I'm honest, right? Um, or I'll give as long as I get to decide what happens with that money, because I'm still I still want to control, and I feel that, right? Sometimes I still want to control the things that I'm giving to. But maybe it's worth praying into. Am I trying to control something? Am I still trying to control God or what I have? And maybe I need to start praying into God, what would you have me do? What do you want me to do? Because Jesus' ways are better than my ways. Matthew 6.33. This is a little bit later in the message, okay? We read the earlier one where Jesus spoke about money, early days. Probably should have waited. And then he goes on to say, book ends it with this, Matthew 6.33. It says, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Meaning, all the things that you were chasing will end up chasing you if you just put God first. The joy, the purpose, the peace, the relationship, whatever it is, put God first, and then God will take care of all of the other ordering in your life. And I have experienced this over and over and over again. I I know many of you have as well. Is this true? Help me help me out here if that's true in your life. Yeah? I see people nodding. Okay, that's okay. It's early in the morning. Maybe we should do another praise song. First time, what did you think? Good? A few people? Good? Okay, good. All right, we'll keep at it. We'll keep at it. It's a quiet crowd here, but very attentive. Okay. Some of you teachers would be begging for that in your classroom. Um this is not a classroom. Um, okay. I know that there's very busy people in our church um who wish that they could do more in this community. I know that. There's some really, really talented, really busy people that are part of our community. It's so amazing that you're here. Um, I love that you are prioritizing being here. And someone told me recently that when they started prioritizing coming to church on Sunday, their business did better. And I thought that's that's kind of the way God works, right? You start prioritizing and things start getting better. Um, but one of the ways that you can partner, if you don't have maybe maybe you're really time poor, one of the ways you can partner is through giving and partnering with God, what God is doing in the world today. Let me just tell you one of these things because I realized I was speaking at a conference in Melbourne um two days ago, and I was realizing there's so many people outside of our church know more about. What's happening in our church, then our own church knows about what's happening in our church. If that makes sense. And so many other churches are excited about what's happening here. Um, yet I have to don't share with you what's happening here because we're kind of just living in it. Um, but you know, about a year ago we started these things called open communities in our church, and really open communities are about creating a place for non-Christians to be able to come into the church and experience Christian community, experience the grace of God before they even hear the message of Jesus. Okay? We've been doing this, and we have about 3,000 people who are part of the online communities that are part of these groups right now. About 800 of those people have been here, have come here in the last year, over 800 of them. And about 400 of those people, about 50% of those people have come into the service with us. They come and they stay in church. Most of those people have never been to a church before and have never heard about Jesus ever before. We've had over 400 people come into this church from open communities who have never heard the gospel, it's the first time in their lives, and they're coming in through these open communities. So, what we did uh with those people was we started alpha for them, and about 111, not this is not Christians, okay? We had Christians come as well, but not Christians, 111 came to Alpha right here over the last couple of months, okay. By the way, they're telling the Alpha people tell me that's the largest Alpha in Australia, by the way. That's pretty that's pretty wild. We are a new church, yeah. We can clap for that. We're a two-year-old church. Um, they're extreme, obviously, extremely excited about this. And as we see more and more churches try to replicate this idea of having open communities that lead into alpha. And in June, we are hoping to start a night service here that will be largely for all of those people who are coming through, and all of our a lot of our young adults will lead that. That's a pretty incredible. Into the future, we may even be able to plant congregations, other churches, out of that into other areas. That's kind of like, if you want to say crassment, it's kind of like a pipeline of people coming through open communities in Alpha, meeting Jesus, starting services, and then planting churches. That's what's happening in our church right now. We're in the middle of that. And so I want you to be encouraged. That's what we're giving into. I want to be part of a church that's actually doing something. We're actually going for it, going after it. Um, not just running a service so that our Christian club can feel happy about each other. That's not the point of what we're doing here. We need to see people come to know Jesus and see him change their lives forever. I had so many testimonies this last week of people coming to faith and extremely in wild and extreme ways, and I just kept thinking, how desperate is God to come into people's lives and save them, to change them, to heal them. God is desperate for that. And 86% of our country is not in church, does not know Jesus, and and many of them don't even know a Christian who knows any who who can bring them into a community of faith. That's why we started this church, guys. That's what we're doing. And I think it's pretty, it's pretty exciting. So here's some here's some reflection for us. Um a couple of questions. And we're gonna pray and we're gonna finish. God, what are you asking me to trust with you? What are you asking me to give? What are you asking me to contribute with? What am I holding on to too tightly? That I should be trusting you more with. Maybe that voice in the back of your head that causes you to hoard and hold what you should be releasing. How can I use what I have to build what will outlive me? Many of the people who give into this church, you will never see the results fully of what God will do in your lifetime. It will outlast us. This church will outlast me, it will outlast us all. I just I was just in churches that were, I went to William Wilberforce's church, that church has been there for a thousand years. There was names just like written, this this priest and this priest, and it was just their whole life's work was just a line. They all they all contributed, they all gave their lives, all dreamed of what's happening right now in the UK. They dreamed of that. We are living in it. What a thing to give into. Something that's gonna go well beyond my lifetime. That's what I want to, that's what I talk to my children about when I talk to them about giving. Um, and I want them to be some part of something bigger than themselves. I want them to be part of the work of God in the world because it's so much better than you could ever imagine. God is doing great things. So let me pray for us, okay? As we um consider. I know this is not a super shouty message, uh, amen, hallelujah, kind of message. But I pray that God would would stir hearts and and and you just have a moment of honesty with God. What does God want you to do? All right, God, we thank you. Thank you for the the work of the Spirit in our lives today. Thank you for what you're doing in this community and through these people, much more than any of us could ever see. And God, we just want to confess, God, where um the spirit of mammon has really gotten hold of our hearts. And we ask you, God, to forgive us. We've bought into in different areas at different times, we've bought into the system of the world, which is more and more for me. So God, we want to want to turn back to you today and say, God, what would you have of us? What could we give to you that you could build your kingdom for the sake of others? I pray over the people here today that maybe they're even struggling in this area. God, I pray for your provision, they would see your provision in their lives. Pray their faith would rise and grow and their trust in you would grow. And that you would meet them, God. You would provide for them. And we thank you, God. We trust that you will do that. Others here who are maybe on the fence and have um lukewarm hearts about the purpose and mission of God. I pray, God, you would stir our hearts, set our hearts ablaze again for what you are doing in the world now and our role in it. And even those here who don't really know you, don't really know you yet. God, I pray for those people today, you would come into their lives and bring great freedom into their hearts today. Set them free. Do the work that only you can do, God. We trust you with that. And I thank you for our church for blessing on this church as we dream about the future and we think about what is to come. God, I pray that you would stir our hearts to be part of something bigger than ourselves with humility and great boldness, God, as we step out in faith with you. We thank you, God. We love you. Amen.