Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sa.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it.
This is where I believe.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: You are more than enough. You're more than enough for me.
You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak.
When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. Joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Oh my soul, bless his name all.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: That is within me.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
In the good times and bad.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Oh Jesus, come what may.
You are worthy of all. You're worthy of all my praise.
You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak.
When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Name.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Though you know it's true.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Oh my soul, bless his name all.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: That is within me.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Believe that church joy is more than a feeling.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: So let it rise up like a river.
Overflowing Holy Spirit.
Let it pour out with no living.
Overflowing Holy Spirit.
Let it rise up, rise up.
Overflowing, overshowing Holy Spirit.
Let it pour out with no limit.
Overflowing Holy Spirit, Let the joy pour out.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my slave.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. We've got it, made it.
Oh my soul, bless his name all.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: That is within me.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Say oh my soul, bless his name, all that is. O my soul, oh my soul, bless his name all that is within me. Say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
It's more than I feel it.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Thank you God for your love.
Amen.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Joy of the Lord is our strength. Amen. Amen. You can go and have a seat for a second.
My name is Adam Burrow. I'm the worship arts pastor here at Westgate Chapel. And I am so excited you chose to worship with us today.
Yes, it is good to be together in the house of the Lord. Amen.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: And if you are a first time guest, we want to encourage you to check out the visitor center before you leave. Right up there by the main entrance. We've got just a special gift for you. Way to welcome you.
And even if you're not a first time guest. Want to encourage you to fill out that connection card if you are or if you aren't.
There you go. If you are, if you aren't, then fill out that connection card in the pew right in front of you.
It's a way for us to get to know you a little bit better. You can fill out prayer requests there things that you have going on in your life. And we spend time as a staff and elders each and every week praying for your needs, what God has laid on your heart. So I want to encourage you to fill that out and also download the Handy Dandy Westgate Chapel app. When's the last time you heard the words Handy Dandy?
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: Here you go. I'm from the south, so give me a break. But the Westgate Chapel app is pretty awesome.
Again, it tells you what's going on at the church. You can do sermon notes in there, lots of different stuff. It's awesome.
And you can scan that QR code right there and right now if you want to.
Again, yeah. Way to get connected. And also, we've got one thing coming up I want to tell you about real quick. We've got the new people party.
If you're newer to Westgate, this lets you know we aren't crazy. Okay. It's a way you get to know the church a little bit more and get to know what we're all about here at Westgate, which we are about a lot of things, but more than anything, we're about making disciples of Jesus Christ and making him known. So. So really encourage you to check that out.
Yeah. Helped you get plugged in here. And I want to take the time now to introduce to you a friend of mine named Heather Franz. Give it up for Heather and her friend Amy.
[00:06:54] Speaker D: Good morning.
I'm excited this morning to highlight one of our partner ministries, that neighborhood church.
We like to refer to it as TNC because it's easier.
They have been serving down in North Toledo, ministering to one of the neighborhoods there for about 15 years.
Since the beginning, Westgate has been privileged to partner with them in lots of various ways, from renovation projects to sports camp and art camp for kids, VBS youth mission trips, summer barbecues for the neighborhood. And this morning, Amy Cox is joining me. She is the children's director at that neighborhood church and she is going to update us on what is going on down there. So tell us what you do and what kind of programs there are and how God is working.
[00:07:46] Speaker E: Thank you. Well, first, just let me say thank you so much for your support.
Thank you for your yes to God's work in North Toledo. So I just want to say thank you first.
Where do I see God working? Or how do I see God working?
As Heather said, we affectionately call it TNC.
We've been there 14 years, and honestly, we have been digging in some rough clay.
Yep, that's right. I heard some laughter. So to build a house, you have to lay that foundation first. And so it has been hard work to make friends, to be neighbors, and to build relationships. And now we're through this like compressed clay. I don't know how many of you have that. And we're in that loose dirt now that we can really see how God's gonna work with.
What I see is things that I did not think I would see eight years ago.
I did not think I would see students raising their hands and engaging. I did not see I would see them running indoors with their homework.
I did not think I would see them fighting over who's gonna pray this time or who's gonna read scripture this time. Because God has brought those opportunities.
He's brought those opportunities to them through an after school program that runs three days a week, through a student ministry, through bringing our moms together now in our neighborhood, through mom's church. So I'm seeing those things because of the opportunities he's brought through our programs.
[00:09:21] Speaker D: Awesome. Can you share a couple stories with us real quick?
[00:09:24] Speaker E: Yes, a couple stories. So I have two middle schoolers.
One is a boy, one is a girl.
My boy friend, not my boyfriend. Oh, my gosh. So my boy student, he's been.
[00:09:38] Speaker D: It's not like that. I promise. It's not.
[00:09:41] Speaker E: It's really hot up here.
[00:09:43] Speaker F: Okay.
[00:09:43] Speaker E: So he's been in our program since the preschool, and there's been times that he was not the most likable.
But today he is leading and engaged in choosing Jesus. And he is bombarded daily with propositions for drugs. He's under huge sexual pressures because in this environment, he's faced with food scarcity, crime as a means of survival, violence as a means of security.
And so that's what he walks through every day.
And to say no to those things isolates him and makes him a target for violence.
But today he chooses Jesus. He's in two of our programs. He's there four days a week.
Yeah. It's so beautiful to see, especially if you knew the personalities.
My other student comes from a home that those people don't make money the same way I do.
They don't live the same way I do. She doesn't have a bedroom with a dresser.
She sleeps wherever the end of the night brings her.
I've had conversations with her people and one of them was wearing a bulletproof vest.
So this is the world she lives in every day. But today she is in extracurricular activities. She is in our junior leader program.
She is.
There are four days a week in two programs. Again, choosing Jesus and telling other people to choose Jesus.
[00:11:29] Speaker D: Awesome. That's so awesome.
Okay, so how. Tell us how volunteers from Westgate help to make an impact in what you're doing.
[00:11:40] Speaker E: The difference you make is immeasurable.
The scripture God gave me this morning was Isaiah 49, 6.
The Lord said, and I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation.
I did not read that line. Might reach to the ends of the earth.
Every time someone comes down there who believes in Jesus, that light on that corner of our church is brighter. That light reaches farther every time a group comes down, Every time a volunteer comes down.
Volunteers makes a difference between a take home paper getting sent out or not.
That paper might be the only word of God that reaches inside that house.
It makes a difference between students who get to pray in small groups.
It makes a difference for students who need to read out loud because they are critically behind in school in our after school program.
So those differences are immeasurable. The magnitude that it has when people are able to come down and support the programs and God's work.
[00:12:51] Speaker D: Awesome.
Serving at TNC for the past 15 years has impacted our family greatly.
All four of my kids have been impacted by that in various ways, as have my husband and I. And I know that many of you have served down there and have felt that impact as well.
Currently there are some immediate needs helping with the after school program and the third night kids church among them, but plenty of places for any skill, any talent that you might have, you know, just maybe pray about that and reach out to Amy or the staff there.
Currently we are in the middle of the Bless a Child program which is where we at Westgate provide Christmas for the kids down at tnc.
And this year we are also supporting some of the needs at Door Street Elementary School. So that link is available on the app as well as the website. And Amy and I will be out in the W Cafe after service if you want to come chat with us about any of these opportunities. So we really appreciate you coming today.
[00:13:53] Speaker E: Thanks for having me.
[00:13:54] Speaker D: Absolutely. Now if you will stand and greet one another and tell someone what you are thankful for.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: I was lost, but he brought me in. All his love for me.
Oh, his love for me.
I'm a child of God. Yes, I am free at last. He has ransomed me, his grace runs deep.
While I was a slave to sin. Jesus died for me cuz he died for me.
Who the son sets free?
Who is free?
I'm a child of God, yes I am.
In my father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of of God, yes I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
Oh, I am who you say I am.
Who the sun sets free, always free.
I'm a child of God, yes I am.
In my father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God, yes I am.
In my father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God, Yes I am.
Sam.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Who you say I am, I am chosen, not forsaken.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: I am who you say I am.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: You are for me, not against me.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not for sa.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
Oh, I am who you say I am.
Yes, I am who you say I am.
Who the son sets free, always free.
I'm a child of God. Yes I am.
In my father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God, Yes I am.
Am.
Narrow as the road may seem.
I'll follow where your spirit leave Broken as my life may be.
I will give you everything. Repeat.
I hear you come.
I am available.
I say yes, Lord, I am available.
Here I am with openness holding in your grace again Less of me and more of you.
I just wanna see you.
I hear you call, I am available.
I say.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Yes Lord.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: I am available.
I hear you call, I am a failure.
I say yes Lord, I am available.
My heart is open wide, my hands are lifted high.
Come do.
Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am.
Here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all.
Here I am.
Here I am.
You can have it all.
You can have it all. Here I am.
Here I am. Yeah, you can have it all.
You can have it all. Here I am.
Here I am. Jesus. You can have it all.
You can have it all.
It's a sacrifice. Sacrifice.
Oh, use me how you want to go of your throne. Within my heart.
I hear you call.
I am.
Am.
[00:25:12] Speaker F: Let's give God glory this morning.
You may be seated just a moment. We're going to come to our time of offering, so we're going to pray first.
But I just want to encourage you, as we heard this morning from Heather and Amy, such a great opportunity for us as a church to be generous as we move into this Christmas season, supporting the kids at TNC through Bless a Child and also a number of kids over at Door Elementary School that we, we support. And so I can't encourage you enough just to stop by the table and talk with them. Such a great ministry that we've been able to partner in for a number of years and so much fruit that has been born. And so thank you always for your generous way in which you care well for people. And we just look forward to doing that again this Christmas season.
Let's go to prayer and give this time to the Lord God, we love you and we thank you.
We thank you that you provide us this place to come and to pull away from the hard things of life and to sit at your feet to worship you, to thank you, God, because you are so present in our lives in every moment.
Father, we thank you that we have the opportunity to gather with people that are like minded, people that love you, people that encourage us and push us toward you.
Father, thank you for the generous way in which you have lavished us with so much good within your church.
And Father, it's because of your generosity, your generosity in your son Jesus Christ, your generosity in our lives every single day to give us what we need, that, Father, we give back to you.
We thank you, Father, for your provision in our lives. And as we give today, Father, we want it to be again an act of worship, our way of saying, thank you, God for how you have loved us. And we ask God that you would take our gifts and that you would multiply them so that more people would know your son, Jesus Christ, we love you and we offer this time to you in Jesus Christ name. Amen.
If you're sitting here on the center aisles, you can take those offering Buckets, we're going to pass them out to the sides. They're in the balcony, they're up in the corners. And so we'll pass those in and we're just going to continue to worship the Lord through the taking of our offering for just a moment.
Well, it is good to be together again if we have not had the opportunity to meet. My name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate and I am thankful, especially if you're a guest, you've chosen to worship with us today.
Excited to dive into God's Word together. And if you on your way in, hopefully you were able to grab some sermon notes that you can use to follow along today. And so I'd encourage you to pull those out right now. And if you've got your Bibles, you can turn to Acts Chapter two as that is where we are going to begin. This morning, though we'll, we'll journey to a couple other places if you haven't been with us over the last few weeks, we have been in a series together entitled Life Together the Church. And as we've been going through this series, we've really been talking about reclaiming our correct biblical understanding of the church. Who are we? Who did God design us to be? What are the character traits that we should exemplify as God's people, not only as individuals, but collectively together as the body of Christ? And we begin this series together looking at Acts Chapter two briefly. And this morning I want us to begin there again and kind of take a look at where we've been, but also what it has to say about this early church that was formed in Acts Chapter two. If you have your notes and you're following along, the first fill in that is there for you is this is that as we look at Acts Chapter two, we see that the church in Jerusalem was the model of what happens when God, God's people are transformed by the Gospel.
You'll remember that before we get into Acts Chapter two, that right before this, Peter had delivered a very impassioned message and called people to faith in Jesus. Christ tells us that 3,000 people came to a saving knowledge of Jesus. And then we start to get this picture in Acts chapter two of the early church and what, what they looked like as those who had been transformed by the Gospel. So if you have your Bibles read with me in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 42, it'll also be up here on the screen.
Here's what it says.
It says that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the Fellowship to the breaking of bread.
And the prayers and awe came upon every soul.
And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.
And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.
One of the first things that we see as we read through this passage and understand how these people were transformed, how they looked so different from the world and the culture that surrounded them is letter A, is that God's people were devoted to doing life together, to learning together, to praying together, taking the Lord's supper together. But even more, it uses this word that they were devoted to the fellowship. The Greek word here is koinonia and it means to share with someone in something.
And it was used not of casual relationships, like somebody that you might just pass and say hi, that you know, and it's kind of casual. You might, you know, talk to each other in the hallway for a few seconds. No, not, not a casual relationship. But this word was used to describe relationships that were intentionally interdependent, where there was a deep sense of caring for each other and for the well being of others, even above oneself.
And this is the picture of the early church that we have, that they were devoted to doing life together.
We're told as well in Acts 2, letter be that the holy Spirit was moving powerfully among them. It tells us that there was this sense of awe that came upon the people as there were many signs and wonders and miracles that were taking place through the apostles.
This sense of awe, like when you think of awe, the dictionary definition is a reverential respect that is mixed with fear or wonder. When I think of awe, I think of the times where myself and my family have gone out to see the northern lights over the, the last couple of years and looking up at the sky and just beholding this like, incredibly beautiful thing, this part of nature, of what God has created. And I can remember just standing there the very first time with this sense of wow. Look at this. I couldn't believe it. Like, literally I'm standing on this dark road, dirt road in the middle of Michigan, you know, with my kids, and I couldn't just stop saying wow, wow.
This sense of awe of wonder.
We're told that that same feeling was coming over the people of God as they were experiencing the miracles and the wonders that were being done through the apostles, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit was moving powerfully among them and it was awe inspiring.
We also see letter C that it tells us that they were serving and caring for each other in a way that was second seemed second nature to them.
It says all who believed were together and they had all things in common. They would sell their possessions and belongings and distribute the proceeds to any as they had need.
And a lot of this was necessary because of the isolation of these early believers from unbelieving Israel.
I mean, not only were they dealing with being rejected by the Jewish community, but they were still dealing with the heavy hand of Rome and all of the taxation that went with that. They were in a precariously, economically depressed situation and so they cared well for one another.
But as we read that, it says that they would sell their possessions and belongings. I want to make clear they weren't practicing some form of primitive communism. That was a forced way of doing things.
This was the response of their love and their hope hearts for one another. It was volitional, it was voluntary, but it was intentional. They still owned their homes, but they would sell portions of their estates for the benefit and care of the community.
And this was so drastically different from the way the culture around them lived and experienced life.
It tells us as well letter D that they prioritized worshiping and seeking God corporately. Day by day. It says attending the temple together, often going to the temple courts where the apostles would stand and would teach and they would come together to hear this and to grow together as a community in God's word, understanding what God's desire was for their lives, but as well, this worship and seeking God not only happened in the temple courts, but also in their homes as they would gather and share meals and seek God, relying upon him for all of their needs.
What do we see overall? Letter E. Overall, there was a spirit of generosity that was the natural result of God's grace flowing through their fully surrendered hearts. As we've gone through this series, we've talked about each one of these pieces. We've talked about how as God's church, we are called to do life together, that we are meant to live our lives in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, experiencing even a sense of awe at his moving.
We are to serve and to care for each other. We're to worship together.
But this morning, as we talk about again God's design for his church, we want to be marked by the things that the church was marked by because of what God was doing in them. And as we read here, it was a spirit of generosity.
And this morning we're going to talk about the fact that we as God's church are called, called to be generous.
And what I really want us to wrestle with this morning is how is it that that generosity is developed within us.
Because if there's anything that we understand about the human experience is that generosity isn't always something that really, truly naturally is part of the human experience.
Generosity isn't the norm. By nature, we find that we can be very self selfish beings, always looking out for our own well being.
And literally, if you go to the, to the very beginning of the Bible and you look at what takes place in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, you see that mankind himself was driven by a sense of loyalty to self, willing to sacrifice everything good that God had given them for a piece of fruit because they felt like they were missing out. There's something more that they needed for themselves in order to have the full experience.
And ever since, selfishness has been a trait of the human experience.
And it's not something that needs to be taught.
From the time that we are born, if any of you have young children, you know this to be true.
We don't have to treat, we don't have to teach selfishness. It comes naturally.
It reminds me of when I was young. When I was, it was like first or second grade in elementary school. We had to memorize these poems. And when we were picking poems, we were using this book by infamous poet Shel Silverstein. Anybody remember A Light in the Attic from when they were in school years ago? Look at all you. Somebody's clapping. They're like, I still know my poem. Okay, well, we had to memorize poems. And I chose a poem specifically that I memorized and that I had to share in front of the class. And it was this one. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. You guys know this one? And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my toys to break so none of the other kids can use them.
Amen.
You know, on one hand I think I chose it because it was one of the shortest poems in the book. On the other hand, I think I really loved the words of this one poem. It was prayer and selfishness combined. Weird, right? Well, here's the deal though. That idea of selfishness isn't something that needs to be taught to us. It comes naturally.
But here's the Deal. It's not just when we're kids.
As adults, we grapple even with a culture that surrounds us that breeds selfishness, not generosity.
It's one of the reasons why talking about generosity and money and giving in the church is one of the hardest things to talk about, rubs people really, really wrong.
And sometimes it's for good reason because there have been abuses from churches that have caused deep wounds in people.
But honestly, sometimes it's because there is a lack of surrender in an area of our life to the Lord that we don't want to admit that is there.
While we struggle with the idea of generosity. I want you to understand that in the Bible, money is one of the most talked about areas of discipleship in the entire Bible.
2300 times we find the issue of money and generosity being talked about.
I had a friend that texted me just a few weeks ago while they were out of the area, go to church here. And they were in another church. And they sent me a text while I was literally backstage in between come at worship and coming out to preach. And they exclaimed to me that the pastor at this church had just told the congregation that they only give as a church. Only 26.5% of the people give two times or more a year. He was kind of astonished by that. And of course, in my jaded self, I go, well, of course I'm not surprised, because the truth is, if you look at stuff statistics in the church today, that is often the norm.
Because generosity is an area of our lives that often goes unsurrendered.
And yet it is a part of the Bible in which we are discipled on constantly.
And so I would ask us to wrestle with this question this morning.
If God calls us to be generous, as he is generous, how is it that that becomes developed within us?
Because, as is the case, we see that even for the early church, who we have this really great picture of in Acts, chapter two, who it seems that they were very generous with everything that they had, the way that they cared for each other, the way that they supported the ministry and the work that was being done. We also see, as we continue throughout the New Testament, that that wasn't always the case.
We actually see that generosity is not second nature to the human experience.
And so if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, we're going to kind of ground ourselves here, and I'm going to give you a lot of background in just a moment to this passage. And then we're going to actually Go through this passage together. I'm going to read it first, though. Second Corinthians, chapter eight. And we're going to look at verses one through seven.
In this passage, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, and he is going to speak about what he sees taking place in other churches in the area of Macedonia. And we'll look at that on a map in just a moment. Listen to the words that he speaks. Soak it in with me for just a minute. We're gonna go back and look at the history so that we can understand how it is that we unpack this for our own understanding as well. Second Corinthians, chapter 8. Beginning in verse 1, it says this.
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.
For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.
But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace.
Also, context behind this passage is really, really important. And so I'm going to walk us through a bit of background information if you're following through in your notes letter A background info. Number one, what we need to understand about what was happening in order for Paul to write this is, number one, that the church in Jerusalem was suffering. Now, I know in our own culture today we use the word suffering in very loose terms, right? If Starbucks is closed and we don't get our coffee, we're suffering. If it's a little too hot on a specific day, we're suffering.
Or maybe I'll get an amen if it's gets cold and starts to snow, we're suffering.
All right. Some of you definitely feel that way, right? We use this term very loosely. But for the church in Jerusalem, I want you to remind you the depth of what suffering really means. There were a combination of factors that led to their suffering.
Historical record shows that in 44 AD, during the time of the reign of Emperor Claudius in Rome, that there were was a huge and massive famine that occurred and it caused incredible food shortages all throughout the Roman Empire. When we read about this famine in the Book of Acts, we understand that it seems that it was also a worldwide famine that was taking place where there were incredible food shortages.
Our understanding from historical record, not only in the Bible, but also from outside of the Bible, is that this famine, the effects of it likely lasted for from 44 AD until about 63 AD, almost a 20 year period where they felt the effects of this famine that had taken place.
But here's the deal. For the church in Jerusalem, it was made even worse by the fact that they were alienated from their fellow Jews. They had been cut off from their families because of their faith in Jesus Christ. They had been cut off from their synagogues, they were cut off from business opportunities.
They were still facing the political instability that was happening. And as well, feeling the heavy tax burden of Rome.
And the large number of new believers, you know, the 3,000 that came to Christ and those who are being added to their numbers day by day, that large number of new believers, largely in Jerusalem, came from a peasant class where they were extremely poor.
And so while they would support each other as a community, like we read in the Book of Acts, kind of selling things and trying to take care of each other, this type of support would eventually run out. Thus, what we see, number two, is that during Paul's third missionary journey, he takes up collections from Gentile churches to care for those who are in need.
You'll see here in just a moment a map that is on the screen that will give you a picture of Paul's third missionary journey.
He began in Antioch and he traveled through the region of Asia, going through Galatia, Phrygia, eventually landing himself in Ephesus, where he spent three years there in Ephesus, writing the book of First Corinthians.
Then he would sail on up into Macedonia, up into the kind of the northern Greece area. He would visit churches from Philippi and Thessalonica. These are churches that he had founded on his second missionary journey. And as well, it's during this time where he's traveling through Macedonia that Paul himself also writes the letter that we're reading here in Second Corinthians.
But then he begins to travel down also towards Corinth. And in all of his travels, he's building up the churches that he has started, but also collecting this offering to care for, for the saints who were in Jerusalem.
Number three. Most of the churches that Paul visited eagerly participated in this collection in solidarity as the body of Christ.
And this is one of the things that was very significant and important as well to Paul is that you have the Jews in Jerusalem and then all of these Gentile churches, two people who didn't necessarily get along very well before Christ.
And now we see them, these Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And what Paul sees is this opportunity for them to build a unity and a solidarity with one another, not seeing each other as Jew and Gentile, but fully as brother and sister in Christ, in the body of Christ.
And so most churches eagerly participated. But number four, the church in Corinth, it was a little bit different story.
It seems that they had a change of heart when it came to this offering and were not doing their part. But the big question is why?
And I think this is important for us to understand this morning. Why is it?
Well, the Corinthians had originally declared that they wanted to participate in this offering to care for the church in Jerusalem. And they actually started, but they didn't keep their promise. And the reason for that, if you've read First Corinthians 2 Corinthians, you know that there were many issues, many varying issues that the Corinthian church was dealing with. And it was a church that found themselves in many ways in a number of sin issues.
In order to understand this, though, I think it's really important to understand the city of Corinth and the culture that this church was living in. Roman Corinth was founded by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. and honestly, it became. Became one of the most important cities in the entire Roman Empire because of where it sat on the major trade routes. It was an incredibly wealthy city.
One commentator described Corinth this way. He said Roman Corinth was prosperous, it was cosmopolitan, and it was religiously pluralistic. It was accustomed to visits by impressive traveling public speakers and people that were obsessed with status, self promotion and personal rights.
Its inhabitants were marked by the worship of idols, sexual immorality and greed. This is the city during Paul's second during. During Paul's missionary journeys that he founded the church in Corinth with the help of a Jewish couple by the name of Priscilla and Aquila. And he spent about 18 months there building up the church.
But the majority of this church was made up of Gentiles who had turned from their idol worship and the way of life, of living it in the Roman way of life within the city of Corinth. And so there were issues, issues that led the church in Corinth to not fulfilling their promise. To generally support the church in Jerusalem. And those issues were that most scholars believe it was the infiltration of Corinthian social values and into the church.
Case in point, we will see letter A.
There was an incredible division that was happening within the church.
An incredible division.
One of the issues that we hear most prominently about in scripture was the division over who they felt were better leaders to follow. Some people wanted to follow Paul. Some people wanted to follow Apollo. Some people in the church wanted to follow Peter. A number of people would criticize Paul's physical presence as being weak even, and his speaking style as unimpressive compared to others that they deemed to be super apostles or maybe more charismatic in their style.
While there are others in the church that were upset with Paul because he had changed his plans to visit Corinth and came at a later time.
Does any of this sound familiar to you at all about the church? Any litany number of issues that can raise up that can cause us to become a little bit disillusioned and maybe even at times use our generosity or lack thereof as a blackmail tool?
Because for the church, part of their issues that they took with Paul in this division that took place is what held back their generosity. You know, one of my favorite stories is when I first became the lead pastor here. We had a Christmas service that we did where our kids got up here and they sang. It was wonderful.
But after the service, I. I got this interesting connection card, by the way, don't use connection cards this way. Just telling you, I throw them away now. But I got this interesting connection card that had a very long note that was written on it. And what it did is it went through and began to tell me how the mics for the children were far too low and that the adult leaders was far too loud. And I got chewed out over this. I was told in some really unkind, unchristian ways how inept we were as a church. And it was signed not with a name, but it was signed with a threat.
By the way, I'm a regular tither.
Merry Christmas to you, too, right?
I couldn't believe it. I was like, really? You're in with that?
If you ever write that, you can go, okay. Anyway, aside, if you're here, I'm sorry, but it's okay. Here's the deal.
Sometimes in the church, we allow divisions and things that upset us, and we actually will use our generosity, or lack thereof, as a tool to be a threat, to get what we want or to punish.
And what we see is that's not the heart of what God desires from his people.
But that's just one of the issues.
You know the other issues. Letter B. Rampant sexual immorality.
Three types that Paul addresses.
He talks about incest, where a man was living with his father's wife. He talks about prostitution, where men were visiting temple, prostitutes. And he talks about it in general terms of sexual morality. That was happening within this culture. We understand it was happening in the culture, but it was also happening in the church. And do you know what ticked Paul off more than anything else is that the churches were proud and tolerant in their attitude toward this type of behavior.
Like literally, it had sunk in so much that it was acceptable. And Paul speaks against it.
Letter C.
Believers were suing each other. They were taking each other to secular law courts over minor disputes.
And Paul, Paul was so disappointed when he writes First Corinthians, disappointed because they couldn't handle these internally in a Christ like manner that would bring God glory.
Letter D. There were abuses of the Lord's Supper and misuse of spiritual gifts.
We read that they were treating the Lord's Supper as though it was a social event where they would drink too much of the wine and get drunk. They turned to it into a party for themselves and used it as an opportunity to have a party, not as a sacred moment of remembrance of what Christ had done.
As well, they were misusing spiritual gifts, treating them as something that gave them personal status. So rather than meant to serve the good of other people, they were using it to puff themselves up. Like, you look at all of these things and what picture do you get of this church in Corinth? Letter E. They were becoming more like the culture around them and less like Christ.
The culture was seeping in and changing who they were.
Isn't that though the temptation that we all face in a secular world and culture is to assimilate to what is around us, to take on its values.
But how dangerous when this becomes the norm in the church even today, individually, for us, in our personal lives, but also collectively, when we come together as people, stop caring about God's Word and what it teaches and what it says, they become more and more comfortable with their sin. And what happens is this slide in our own Christian experience that causes us to think and care more about ourselves than other people.
It was the Corinthians, outright sin and assimilation to the culture that led to their lack of participating in the collection for the church in Jerusalem.
Life had become about them, not about Christ, not about what Christ wanted to shape and form in Them. And I want you to catch this letter B. When culture, rather than Christ, shapes our worldview, our natural default is self preservation, not generosity.
I'll say that again. When culture, rather than Christ, shapes our worldview, our natural default is self preservation and not generosity.
Theologian Warren Wiersbe once said these words very similar.
When a church is not spiritual, it is not generous.
When a church is not spiritual, it is not generous. And this was the problem with the Corinthian church because they had strayed in their own devotion to Christ.
They were not generous toward others or toward one another.
But here's what I appreciate most about Paul. What I love about Paul is this, is that what he could have done was to come in fast and to come in hard and to strike out at this church and say, you made a promise to give and to give generously to care for the needs of the church over here, and you need to fulfill your Christian duty. He could have attacked it that way.
And to be honest, sometimes when we're in church and you hear people talking about generosity or giving, it really feels like. Like what you're being given is a list of rules that you're being commanded that you need to follow in order to be a good person or to be a good Christian.
And I think that the temptation is there for so many people. Maybe it's because pastors and churches feel the pressure of finances and things and whatever that may be.
But the truth is, is that there is no. There is no. You must follow this rule.
Paul does. What I believe is so beautiful is he simply turns the people to a clear understanding of what God is trying to develop within their own hearts.
Paul exhorts the church in Corinth to a heart change, not just to fulfill their duty.
And he does this by using the churches of Macedonia as an example. And I want you to see this this morning because we're answering this question. How is it that then, that this heart of generosity is developed? Well, we know that it was stripped away because the people moved away from what God desired in their life and the sin that was rampant. But let's look at how it's developed.
The first thing that we see is this. A biblical generosity is an act of grace.
Biblical generosity is an act of grace. Second Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 1, says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Notice, he says, the grace of God that has been given. Can anybody tell me what's a definition of grace? Quick one. What's the quick one we know.
Unmerited favor. Good job. Unmerited favor. Undeserved favor. I think back to high school when I was in algebra. Anybody here like algebra when I was. They were in high school. You guys are weird.
Boo. Right? I feel that.
I remember when I took algebra. It was one of the hardest classes I think I ever took in high school. I could not figure out how to do algebra. It was like learning a foreign language to me. I used to go in every single day at lunchtime because my algebra class was after lunch to ask my professor for help in understanding.
Every single day, going in. And no matter what I did, I couldn't learn it. I couldn't understand it, I couldn't grasp it. And at the end of the semester, I remember sitting there with Mr. Adelizzi at his desk. Cause he looks at me, he's like, you have a 54% in this class. You have an F. You're not going to pass.
And I just kind of hung my head. And then he said these beautiful words, but I'm going to give you a D.
[00:59:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:59:48] Speaker B: Move me on.
[00:59:50] Speaker F: I received grace.
Something that I did not earn, something that I did not deserve. He moved me on to geometry, where I got an A, because that was easy, right?
I share that with you. Because our typical understanding of what grace is is unmerited or undeserved favor.
Whether. Whether it's my teacher giving me a grade that I didn't earn or deserve, or the understanding that we have from God's word that when it tells us that Jesus died on the cross for my sin, he gave me a gift that I could have never earned on my own.
It was completely undeserved.
He had no reason to forgive me for the things that I have done against him.
And yet he gave freely of his love, generously of his love.
By dying a cross on a cross for my sin, he gave me his grace.
This is how we typically understand grace in Scripture.
But when it says here, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Here is the idea of grace in this passage, and I want you to write this down, is that it is favor shown because of favor that has been received, favor that is shown because of favor that has been received.
Grace has been given to me generously. Therefore, I will give grace to others generously.
The gift of the Macedonian church. And I think this is important to highlight, is not meant to actually highlight them.
Paul is not looking and going, look at the Macedonian Church be like them because they get it right.
What does he do? It's not about the Macedonian church and what they've done. It's about what God is doing in them and through them. He says, we want you to know about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.
Generosity is a proof that God has been working in grace, in a person's heart, forming that heart into his image, because generosity is one of God's most pronounced qualities.
And why is this so significant for the church in Corinth to hear, or even us today?
Because like the surrounding culture around them, they were obsessed with status, with self promotion and greed. And Paul wants them to hear, this isn't about me asking you to show off or just perform a task that will give you good standing. This is about God. This is about his grace. It's about his glory. And he wants to transform your heart, that you would be formed in the image of His Son.
And so he goes on to explain this grace of biblical generosity. Letter B. That biblical generosity. Generosity is also joyfully sacrificial.
Second Corinthians, chapter 8, verses 2 through 3. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance. Speaking of the Macedonian churches, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty, two huge opposites have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
For they gave according to their means, as I came can testify, but also beyond their means. There are a few things that stand out to me as I read these two verses. The first is this is that it says that the churches in Macedonia were going through a severe test of affliction. Translate that better from the Greek. They were being crushed by life itself. Culture was squeezing them hard. Macedonians had lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ. And they were experiencing, as Paul says here, extreme poverty. The word that is used here, the Greek word, is bathos. Bathos meaning to be desperately poor. You know, we think we're poor if we can't go out to dinner, or maybe we can't get that latte at Starbucks, or maybe the credit card is maxed out, or we can't buy the latest iPhone, or we can't fix up the house the way we want to. And we think to ourselves, we're poor. Well, he wants us to understand a whole different level of poverty. The churches in Macedonia were vastly different.
They experienced deep, crippling poverty. They were worried about whether or not they could put food on the table the next day.
They had to still pay the heavy taxes of Rome, fearful that if they didn't fulfill their obligations that they would be thrown in jail. Their situation was a severe test of affliction because of their poverty. And yet Paul says, amazing that in the midst of this type of poverty, they gave generously. And he says that in their generous giving that they gave according to their means.
And I believe that this truth that Paul talks about here is taught all throughout Scripture, is that as God's people, we are also called to give according to our ability, according to what God has given to us.
Many people will ask me the question, well, in the church, when I give what is appropriate, what am I supposed to do? Is it 10%? Is it more? Is it less? Well, when we look in the Old Testament, we see that a tithe meant 10%.
But oftentimes God's people in the Old Testament would give three tithes for different things, up to 30% of what they had.
But then you look in the New Testament and it doesn't set a fixed amount.
10% might seem like a good benchmark, but what does the New Testament say? The New Testament says that we should give first fruits of the first of what God has given to us, that he comes first.
It's not, hey, you know, I spend what I have and whatever is left over, I might tip God some, but it is a first fruits decision. God, I give the best to you because you have been generous in giving the best to me. We give first fruits. The New Testament also says that we give according to our heart before the Lord. We'll see this in just a moment in Second Corinthians, chapter nine. But we are to go before God and say, God, what is it that you desire? Because you are what's most important to me, and I want to exemplify your desire for my life.
But as well, the New Testament also teaches that we are to give in proportion to what we have.
But it also says that we are to give generously.
Generously.
And it even tells us here that not only did the churches, churches of Macedonia give according to their means, but they even gave beyond their means. Means.
Truth number two is that sometimes God will call us to give beyond our means.
Sometimes as we seek him, he will say, I want you to give towards this thing or this project or this opportunity.
And I want you to do so in a way that is going to stretch you, but I want you to trust me. The important thing, though, is that we remember what Paul says in Second Corinthians, chapter 9.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, is that Our generosity doesn't flow from a sense of obligation or the following of rules, but it flows from our connection to a generous God who is the One that is guiding us.
If we lived this way and surrendered this area of our life to the Lord, I venture to say that it would radically alter the church today.
Here's what's crazy, though.
The Macedonian churches, in a severe test of affliction, gave generously according to their means and even beyond their means. And in the midst of a severe test of affliction, it says that they had an abundance of joy.
Like, how do you have joy in the midst of a severe affliction?
This joy came because for them there was no greater joy than to trust the Lord and to watch what he would do with their faithfulness.
This is an act of God's grace in their lives, and it's what God produces when we surrender our hearts to Him.
What we also see as we continue in the passage letter C is that biblical generosity is volitional. In other words, it is part of our our free will in giving. 2nd Corinthians 8:4 says that they gave of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
This is such interesting phraseology that Paul uses here that they begged us earnestly. Most scholars believe that as Paul is traveling through the region of Macedonia, churches like Philippi Thessalonica experiencing the extreme suffering that they were going through, that he wasn't actually asking them to necessarily give to this offering. And the reason being is they probably needed an offering for themselves.
And yet the language that is used here is that as the people of these Macedonian churches heard about the suffering and the need that was taking place in Jerusalem, even in the their own extreme poverty, they pleaded, they begged with Paul, please allow us to be a part of caring for the saints in Jerusalem. Allow us to be a part. We believe that God has given us enough that we can also provide for them.
For them, giving was not a problem to be avoided.
It was a privilege to be desired.
And this is what the grace of God develops within us when we surrender to Him.
Because Letter D, Biblical generosity is the natural result of God's grace working in and through a heart that is fully surrendered to God.
Listen to these last words in verses 5, 6 and 7.
As, as Paul continues to describe what happened within this Macedonian church, they begged earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this verse five, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and Then by the will of God to us.
Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.
But as you excel in everything, excelling in your faith and your speech and your knowledge in all earnestness and in our love for you, see that you also excel in this grace of generosity.
What does Paul say?
Don't ignore this area of discipleship that God wants to do in your life, where he is calling you to surrender to him.
And I love how he began this section by reminding the church in Corinth of this truth, that the churches in Macedonia gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
The Macedonian church was generous in their poverty because they had surrendered all of who they were to the Lord.
It was their joy to participate in what the Lord was doing.
And Paul's exhortation was not to guilt the wealthy church in Corinth, but to implore them to yield their own hearts to the Lord and to allow him to develop his generous spirit within them.
And so, church, we have this call in Scripture to be people of God who are generous with what God has given to us.
And I want you this week to wrestle with just two questions. I've put them here at the bottom for you to go spend some time with the Lord this week.
Wrestle with these two things.
Ask God, God, what do you desire? But number one, in what ways do you believe God wants to grow you? In the area of biblical generosity, would you be willing to sit with God in prayer and the Holy Spirit and say, could you reveal to me the blocks in my life where I am hindering you, God, from developing a generous spirit in my heart?
Would you be willing to ask the hard question, where are the blocks, Lord? What are the things that are preventing me from becoming all that you do desire for me to be in order to exemplify your character of being generous?
But number two, have you allowed the grace of God to permeate and transform every part of your heart and your life?
This is an area that is so hard for so many people to let go of.
But have you come to the place where in your own life where you recognize just how generous God has been with you?
And because of that, you're willing to go to God and say, God, I will be generous with all that I am and give you every area, and I will do as you call me to do?
My prayer for us is that we don't ever neglect an area of discipleship that God wants to. To change inside of our own hearts and our lives that not only would we learn to be generous when it comes to our tithes or our offerings, but that we would learn to be generous when we walk around and we see the needs of others that are around us and we don't just pass by and walk by and go, well, hope they make it, but that our hearts are so attuned to God and to what he's doing and the opportunities that he's provided us, that not only we would be attentive as we talked about last week, but that we would be moved to compassion that actively moves us to respond in generosity.
Would you pray with me, God? I just ask that you would work all of these things that we have studied in your word this morning. Inside of our hearts. You know where we are.
You know the places where we struggle with being generous. And so we just surrender to you this morning and we ask, Lord, that you would do a work in us.
You have showed us the extent of generosity and that God, while we sinned against you, you sent your son Jesus into this world to die on a cross for our sin, to give us a grace that we did not deserve, that we don't deserve.
And yet you continue to generously lavish us with your love and your mercy and to care for us and to provide for us.
And would you teach us as your people to be generous in the same way in every area of our lives that your son would receive glory and that through our lives people would know you in Jesus name, Amen.
[01:15:32] Speaker A: Sam.
The angels bow before your throne.
All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and see you're worthy of it all, all you're worthy of it all.
For from you are all things and to you are all things, you deserve the glory.
Sa.
All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God.
I sing you are worthy of it all, You are worthy of it all.
For from you are all things and to you are all things.
[01:17:48] Speaker B: You deserve the glory.
[01:17:52] Speaker A: You are worthy, you're worthy of it all.
You're worthy of it all.
You're worthy of it all.
So worthy.
For from you are all things.
And to you are all things.
You deserve the glory.
[01:18:25] Speaker D: Lord Jesus, you are worthy, you're worthy of everything.
You gave everything for us, God. May our full surrender this morning our full surrender of everything. May that rise like like a beautiful aroma of praise to your throne room today.
[01:18:51] Speaker A: Day and night, night and day. Let incense arise.
Day and night, night and day. Let incense arise.
Day and night, night and day. Let incense arise day and Night, night and day, let incense arise.
Day and night, night and day, let incense ar you worthy.
So.
I.
I.
Worthy.
Ha.
[01:20:47] Speaker F: God is good.
[01:20:47] Speaker A: Amen.
[01:20:48] Speaker F: He is good.
As we close our service this morning, our prayer team will be here at the front and would love the opportunity to pray with you should you have any needs today. And so we would invite you to come as we close our service. But as we close, one of the important things we also want to do is acknowledge that tonight I believe we're going to have about 180 international students that are here for our international Thanksgiving dinner. They're very excited, incredible ministry that we have year after year where international students, many of them very new to our country and many of them never having had the opportunity to be in a church or to hear the good news of Jesus. And so tonight they're going to be here and get that opportunity, get to rub shoulders with many of you as well. And so we want to take a moment as we close to just pray over this building and over this evening and ask God to be ever present and that he would just be changing hearts and lives. So would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for just again how generous you are to us.
God, you have given us more than we could ever describe.
And our deepest desire, God, is to go out and to be generous and sharing that with other people.
And tonight, God, you have blessed us, You God have blessed us with about 180 students that are going to walk in this room that don't know you.
And Father, we want to pray that your spirit would be ever present with us.
That Father, as we share the good news of your son Jesus Christ through the story of thanksgiving.
That Lord, there would be people that are here that would hear that message for the very first time and that your spirit would begin to kindle their hearts to desire to know you.
Father, as we have Bibles to hand out in different languages and people take them, may your word breathe life into them.
And Father, we ask that you would lead people to a saving knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ through this event. Tonight I pray over every single table host and every single worker that God, they would experience the fullness of your holy Spirit, nothing quenched in their life. That you would bring about all the giftedness, all the opportunities in order to share the love of your son Jesus with others.
And Lord, we ask that there would be nothing that could bring distraction or pull away away from this evening.
God, we just pray that you would use it to bring glory to your son. So thank you God for giving us this opportunity. And we expect, and we pray that you will do great things in the name of Jesus. We pray together. Amen.
One last thing as we close, the whole church is about to get flipped and prepared for tonight. I know that some of that has begun, but they still need more hands to help. If you'd be willing to stick around for, for a half hour, 45 minutes to help, you can go over to the atrium and connect with Steph Bogner and she will direct you aside from that church. Go out and be the light of Jesus, and we'll see you next week. God bless you.
