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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi. This is John Guenter. I'm the preaching minister at the Eagle Community Church of Christ. Thank you for listening to our podcast. Today, you're listening to sermon number 6 in our I Will series.
John Gunter:We're talking about giving generously. The bible has a lot to say about how Christians should really view, and deal with their money. And hopefully, this is helpful for you. We live in a society and a culture and a time that really wants all of that as well. So what does God say about that?
John Gunter:We hope it helps. Thanks for listening. This morning, we, continue with our our series, from the book by Tom Rayner called I Will. Again, 9 traits of the outwardly focused Christian. Again, kind of confronting us with how kind of self centered we can be.
John Gunter:Anybody wanna admit that this morning? Yeah. This morning, we talk about the, the easy to talk about subject of money. Y'all ready to talk about that? You brought your tax form so we could all compare.
John Gunter:I know some churches, they require, for membership, they require your tax information to make sure you're giving a certain percent. And, that sounds, terrible. How about you? Yeah? Yeah?
John Gunter:We don't want people to know we are giving 1%, right? Money is an odd thing to talk about. When we talk about money with our kids, we say that's a family thing, right? Don't be telling people how much, you know, anything is. Kids love to talk about money though.
John Gunter:Logan, he's already decided when he gets a little older, he's going to own a mansion that is made of gold, not the one we sing about, an actual physical mansion here, made of gold. Luckily, he said we can live with him, so that's great. He has also asked me, he said, Dad, is there any way that I can make that kind of money and not work? I said, Wish I knew, son. Did anybody win the Mega Millions yet?
John Gunter:Maybe we can try that, do a group thing here at church, I don't know. But money is always an odd thing to talk about. It's a joke among preachers. If you want to see the contribution go down, talk about money. Because all of a sudden people get in their feelings thinking, well, all we want to do is get your money.
John Gunter:Well, that's not the case. Scripture and Jesus talks about money and greed and things like this over and over and over. And why is that? Well, those two things are very, very powerful in our lives, aren't they? You may not, like Logan, be seeking a physical mansion of gold here, but there may be things in your life that you are focused on to get money, that I want to achieve this certain spot in my life.
John Gunter:There is nothing wrong with financial planning or anything like that, but what we have to do as followers of Christ is constantly check ourselves to see whether our priorities are in the right order. So is it just financial planning? Is it just saving? Or am I hoarding money because I really hold it in high esteem? I worked hard for it.
John Gunter:I wanted it, I went and got it, I went and got that education and now it's mine. Because that is an attitude that leads us away from God. And so this morning, we are going to be confronted by scriptures that may step on your toes. I don't know if every week you've come and gotten your toes stepped on. Mine have been stepped on every week with this book.
John Gunter:So this is one for the next few weeks, if you don't want your toes stepped on, just I don't know, plug your ears. I don't know what to do. I still want you here. I want to see your face. But this morning, we are going to talk about the I will give generously chapter.
John Gunter:In 1 Timothy 6, one thing that Paul tells Timothy is this, he says, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. Now we often say you never see a hearse carrying a U Haul. Right?
John Gunter:Now, the the pharaohs of old, right, they they they packed the the, pyramids and everything with things they wanted, things they liked, even their animals. Right? And we may try to do that, but that's not gonna convey, is it? Right? I hope I hope not.
John Gunter:I hope God's got something way better than what I can accumulate here. But we I love this attitude. We brought nothing into the world. We can take we cannot take anything out of it. I think the problem we struggle with or the part we struggle with is verse 8 there, but if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
John Gunter:When's the last time you said, as long as I've got food and clothes, I'm good. I don't need anything else. Anybody else in here like estate sales? I think I mentioned it the other day. Michael, you better raise your hand.
John Gunter:Uh-huh. I do too. I like going and seeing what I can find, if I can get a bargain on something. But it always, and Michael and I were talking about this, that's why I brought it up, every time I go to an estate sale, I think about that person's life. Right?
John Gunter:Because at some point in my life, my stuff is either gonna go to my kids or it's gonna be sold, and more than likely, there's a lot of dead stuff that they're not gonna want. Right? And so I will have spent my whole life accumulating a lot of things that nobody is really going to want or if they want it, it's going to be for a bargain, right? I just got a new to me truck, and right now that's great. Actually, I can't even enjoy it.
John Gunter:I always buy things with dents in them and scratches, and the person that had this before did not put those in there, and so when I drive it which by the way, before I even got it home, the engine light came on, so it's actually being repaired already. There you go. But I was not even able to really enjoy it because it didn't have dents and scratches. It's too it's too much for me. But even as as nice as I believe the truck is right now, you think my kids are gonna want it if I die down the road sometime?
John Gunter:No. Of how we treat things, right? We are not content in the moment. We like that new thing we bought, but give it a little time and it's junk again, right? Yeah.
John Gunter:There is a reason we have things like spring cleanings. Anybody else's wife seem like they are going to throw out the rest of the house? I believe Katie starts in the garage with my stuff. Like, don't you have stuff to to think about throwing away? I mean, why does it have to begin with my stuff?
John Gunter:Right? I hadn't seen you use this. Yeah, but I will. Okay? It needs to be there.
John Gunter:Oh, you hadn't used it? I need it. But we are we are not content. It's not that we don't need stuff at times, it's not that we should live life without anything. Right?
John Gunter:We just live in a tent or something like that, but it is our relationship with money and being content people. And, listen, we live in a world that that tries to make you not content. Right? I've tried to to tell my kids, like, even watching YouTube, you get ads. Right?
John Gunter:And I've told them, like, people spend lots of money corporations spend lots and lots of money for YouTube in one second. I've got everything I need to seeing a commercial that you realize, Oh, man, I've got to have that. Right? Have you been there? My father-in-law likes to say, we will go into the store like a Bass Pro Shop.
John Gunter:I said, Well, what do you need? He said, I don't know. I will find out in there. Right? And that's honesty.
John Gunter:Right? I'll find out in just a minute. Let me get in there and I'll tell you. Right? I don't need anything yet, but they'll tell me inside.
John Gunter:Okay? Well, but if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. And that, again, that goes back to our relationship with money and and where we find our contentment. He says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Well, that got a little harsh, didn't it?
John Gunter:Again, those who desire to be rich. Alright? I've gotta have those conversations with Logan. Alright? He wants to he wants to be rich.
John Gunter:He doesn't wanna work for it. All those things. Right? Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation. Why?
John Gunter:That's their desire. That's their focus. What are they not desiring and focusing on then? God. A lot of times we try to fool ourselves and say, well, I I I want to do both.
John Gunter:Well, I am desiring and focusing on this pursuit of wealth being, rich. It says that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money, not money. Right? For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. You can have money and not have the love of money.
John Gunter:Consequently, you can have money and have the love of money. You understand that? You cannot have any money and have the love of money. Right? Okay?
John Gunter:It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. You didn't even realize what you were doing, but that love of money, that pursuit of riches has led you away from God. And that's what we're talking about this morning. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, which is just a wonderful sermon. Go read Matthew 5, 6, 7, this week.
John Gunter:There's so many good things in there, but he talks about it like this in chapter 6, verse 19, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Again, see where the focus is. My focus and what he's talking about, he's talking to the people whose focus is I want to accumulate things. Again, at times, we and they had the idea that if I have a lot of things, that means I'm just blessed by God.
John Gunter:And so, well, I'm wealthy, so I must be righteous. Well, he teaches against that. The story of Job teaches against that. Right? A a righteous man who has everything taken from him.
John Gunter:It is not about, okay, well, he he's rich. He must have it all. But the disciples, remember, a man that was very wealthy couldn't let go of all his stuff. He couldn't sell his stuff. And the disciples said, well, who can be saved if this guy can't?
John Gunter:Right? Because they had the idea that he had stuff, he had wealth, he had riches, he must be blessed by God. Well, the focus in that story is just like this, where is your treasure? And if your treasure is just in the pursuit of money or something money can buy here, then you are off base. I came across an account this week on Facebook, that I think the only thing this group sells is like very luxury properties.
John Gunter:Anybody ever look on Zillow or things like that, of properties that there is no way you can ever afford it? But you are going through it like you are about to walk in, and you know, well I would change that, but as soon as I get $28,000,000 that one's mine, right? I probably couldn't pay the taxes on it if I had $28,000,000 to buy it, right? But we go and we do these kinds of things, right? We have this lust of things that money may buy, and Jesus says, okay, well, don't lay up for yourselves treasures here, lay up for yourself treasures elsewhere.
John Gunter:And if you're focused on all of this here, you're not gonna be there, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So is this life as a Christian, is this life all that God has for you? Is this life and what you experience here, is this all that God has for you or does He have something better? Now, again, you should have been here in Bible class, had a good discussion about this. We see the here and now.
John Gunter:Right? We see those beautiful things that we wanna buy and purchase and go do, and we don't see that. Right? And so that is on faith, and sometimes it feels like this is all we have. And so the the pull to focus on the here and now is really great.
John Gunter:Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart, will be also. A few verses down, he says, no one can serve 2 masters. No one can serve 2 masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and what, church? Money.
John Gunter:So what we think we do a lot of times is, well, I will be a good Christian and I'll pursue money. Again, not wrong to have money, but if I have a love of money, my focus is off. If I have a desire for all that money brings, my focus is off. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve 2 masters.
John Gunter:What he say it is, there are 2 great pulls in your life. Right? And money is one of them. You can't turn on the television, go outside, and see a billboard. Somebody's not trying to get your money.
John Gunter:Right? Even you've seen those people that, that tell you that your money is worthless and you need to have gold? Give us your worthless money so we can give you our gold that you need. That make a lot of sense to you? Right?
John Gunter:We are doing you a favor. Give us that trash that you have in your pocket, we will give you this gold, right? Now, we debate gold going up and down, but isn't that crazy that that's what we would do? But often, we have a wrong mindset when it comes to money, especially even as Christians. Tom Rayner in this chapter, he says this, he says, The reality is that many church members have developed a consumer mindset on giving to local churches.
John Gunter:If the church does not do things exactly as they want, they will withhold funds or reduce their giving. Do you see how in this scenario, my relationship with money is off? Because in this scenario, it is not about what God has blessed me with. It is what it is about how I can use what I have as power or leverage. And that's wrong church.
John Gunter:That we treat that as something we have to be wielded against whatever it is. We have this consumer mindset. We, let's say over and over. It seems like more and more, when I was growing up, if you missed a week for church, that next week you were back, you caught up. Right?
John Gunter:I didn't get to give. I didn't see it in a legalistic way, like, I have to do this or God doesn't love me anymore. But, like, I didn't give to my church and that that's something I do as a Christian, as a person claiming Christ. And I I see it more and more nowadays as we almost pay an admission. If I'm here, I may give.
John Gunter:And that that's the consumer mindset. Well, I got something out of it. Tyler led some good songs. I feel like I was blessed. Okay.
John Gunter:I'll give some today. John's sermon, okay. A little less, but we we kind of treat it this way. Again, many church members, he said, develop a consumer mindset on giving to local churches. If the church does not do things exactly as they want, they will withhold their funds or reduce their giving.
John Gunter:And right after that, he says this, No church will satisfy you 100% with their use of funds. You understand that? And no place will either. I see people I wouldn't give money to them because I saw that they supported what? X y z.
John Gunter:And I really wanna ask and I understand that. I understand you're not wanting to do it, but but I also think, how much research are you doing on anything else? Right? Because everything is tied to something. I I I've just decided, I believe.
John Gunter:But it says, but make certain you are in a church where you can give cheerfully even when you don't agree with everything. Do you believe that we're gonna come together and agree on everything? Have you ever been in a group of people who agreed on everything? We talk about it a lot. If you're a married person in here, you know that person intimately.
John Gunter:And I would bet you don't agree with them on everything. Right? You do life day in, day out. You know, the the deepest darkest secrets. You are there.
John Gunter:You know that person better than any anybody else, and you don't agree with them perfectly. Why in the world would you come to church or any other place and think we ought to leave there just absolutely agreeing on everything? I believe in church, you ought to agree on the main things, and that is Jesus is Lord. Let's start there. Right?
John Gunter:A lot of this other stuff is is just other stuff. Let's agree, Jesus is Lord. We are his body, and let's go from there. Okay? But he says, we cannot think of the funds we give as our funds, and that's our problem a lot of time.
John Gunter:This is my money. We cannot think of the funds we give as our funds. The act of giving is the act of letting go, such as the definition of a gift. That comes up a lot when we talk about, well, I saw, somebody on the side of the road, down on 146 there. You know, you get off the interstate, and one guy, we saw him, he had only one leg and his sign said, I'm, what did he say?
John Gunter:I said, I'm down to my last leg or he said, Monday through Sunday IHOP, and it had the IHOP logo and he just had one leg, okay, that's cute. But we think about that sometimes, we think, well, if I give my money to that person, what are they going to do with? Right? And so it's it's my money. Now, I don't think you should enable someone, you know, if you have a family member that you know is doing some toxic things, don't fuel that.
John Gunter:Right? But often, we have no power. We'd like to have power over the situation. We'd like to say, hey, you can only spend this on food, right? And then that's when we take them to get food, and like I told you before, well, then they have more money to do something else because you just fed them.
John Gunter:So you can rule all of that out, right? We can work through all of that stuff, but we are supposed to be giving people. That is part of our acts of worship to God. God has blessed me, and I want to give that. I want to give here, I want you to give to your neighbor in need, I want you to give to the guy on the side of the road, I want you to be a giving person, because being a giving person shows that I have that right relationship with the money, not my money, but the money God has entrusted me with.
John Gunter:The money that I am steward over, and we ought to use that word a lot more. That I am steward over that, that is not mine, I am a steward. In 2 Corinthians 96, which is in your bulletin today, Paul says this, he said, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Now, I love this verse because I feel like it needs explanation. I feel like you need me for a second.
John Gunter:Because I think what we can do is we can read this and we can almost read like, here's a transaction. God says, as long as you give, I'll give to you. Do you think that's the attitude that this was said with? I don't think so. What this is talking about, whoever sows sparingly, if you're not gonna be that kind of person who is sowing, who is giving, you're going to reap sparingly.
John Gunter:Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. This is about your attitude. This is about getting the priority in the right spot because if you remove that idol, if you have an idol of seeking riches, seeking wealth, and you remove that, do you believe you're gonna be blessed by God? Do you see your do you think you're gonna see God's different blessings on your life? Yeah, because you have removed the focus, you have removed the laying up treasures right here on Earth, because that's where you were focused.
John Gunter:My wife gets me, all the time, she she planted alright. I'm gonna tell this story real quick. She planted some flowers this year. I gave up a whole raised bed. You Wednesday nighters, you know how much that means to me, because I brought tomatoes and everything else.
John Gunter:I gave up a whole raised bed for her to plant flowers. And she didn't plant flowers, and she didn't plant flowers, and she didn't plant flowers, until one day she got all my flower seed out. And how many of you have done a garden before? I want to see who I'm talking to. Okay, all right.
John Gunter:So I see my wife, who has this stack of seed packets, and she likes this one and she puts it in a bowl, and she likes that one and she puts it in the same bowl, and she likes this different one and she puts it in the same bowl, where she has a bowl of seed. She has no idea where that seed is gonna go. Anyway, like 3 flowers grew out of that whole thing. I'm talking about a bowl full of flowers, flower seed, something about it needing water, and she didn't do it. Anyway, I'll get to that later.
John Gunter:But for the last week, she has had beautiful cut flowers in a vase on the bar right in front of me. I just saw them yesterday. I can be oblivious because there are so many things going on in here. Anybody else with me? Like, there are so many things going on in here, I've just missed everything.
John Gunter:And that's what I think we do here, is if we are so focused and so much is going on, I need to pursue this, I need to make this financial gain, I need to make these moves, that I miss out on God's blessing. I think that's what he's saying. If you will get that out of the way, that's that sowing sparingly, you're not actually you you think, well, God's with me this whole way, but, no, you you have created this idol that you focused on. Well, if you would just get out of the way and and treat that the correct way, what you will see is God will bountifully give you blessing. The next verse says, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
John Gunter:And we read this quite a bit, I think, around the time that we, we give of, of the offering. But see what it says, as he has decided in his heart, that is about your heart. Right? That can't be any more clear. It's about how you give not reluctantly, like, I'm not I don't really want to or under compulsion like we're like this sermon here.
John Gunter:I don't want you to feel the pressure next week. Well, John said I had to. But that's who we are. We talk about identity. I my identity is in Christ, and so I'm not under compulsion to give, I give because of who I am.
John Gunter:I I give because I'm with him, that he is mine, that I am his. That's the way I do it. It says, and god loves a cheerful another word is is glad. We get from the same word, hilarious. Like, it's just abounding.
John Gunter:It's just it's just coming out of you. I am glad to give. When is the last time that you thought, Man, I really want to give in that way? One time when the boys were really young, I think it was Evan, the plate passed and he was not able, he had stuck all of his money down in his pocket. Have you ever seen a little boy try to get change out of a denim pocket?
John Gunter:It can take 2 and a half business days. And so he wasn't able to give, and he got upset that he was not able to give his money. And in that moment, I thought, I've never been upset that I wasn't able to give my money. Have you been? Like, we should have that same, I want to give.
John Gunter:It's not because you're telling me to or that I feel like I have to or anything like that. I want to give. Don't you rob me of that. Right? I wanna be able to to give.
John Gunter:Jesus in in Mark 12, it says, He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put 2 small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
John Gunter:We live in a world that celebrates large amounts of money. Right? I love college football. Most college football stadiums have somebody's name on them that have given a lot of money. And the truth is, that there may have been people here this morning that put in a larger percentage of what they have in the offering tray than the person that has their name on a building out there, and what the percentage was that they gave for that.
John Gunter:We celebrate just like they did why Jesus had to make the point. We celebrate putting in a lot. And Jesus says, she gave all that she had. So what is your relationship to your money? Is it about, okay.
John Gunter:Well, I gave a lot and that's enough. Or is it about, okay. I can live on faith because that's the that's the rub a lot of times. We have put our faith, not in God anymore, but in the money we have, in the insurance we have. My wife this year, we had we had talked to a lot of people, and we had decided that we were not going to have flood insurance.
John Gunter:Until my wife decided the anxiety was high enough, we needed to have flood insurance. So we have flood insurance. It has gone from $500 when we got here to $1200 now. We have flood insurance. Okay?
John Gunter:We have insurance. Now we rest on that. K? And we can those are good products. Right?
John Gunter:That can protect my home, but we don't want to live our lives in a way that, okay, we rely on the bank account, the 401 k, the all of these things that we have. We want to be able to, as this woman did, put her faith in God. K. So let's talk about action items. Number 1, let's make it a matter of prayer.
John Gunter:That should be number 1 on our list on everything we do. Right? Action item number 1, let's pray about it. God revealed to me my relationship with money. Right?
John Gunter:Convict me if I'm off on this. So I think it's good financial planning. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe I'm just holding on to money. Make it a matter of prayer.
John Gunter:Pray about it. Pray those dangerous prayers God revealed to me, right? Show me whether I'm right or wrong. Number 2, we need to remember, understand God does not have limited resources. Often, we have this scarcity mindset.
John Gunter:Do you know what a scarcity mindset is? It's the thought that nothing else is coming. I don't there's nothing else out there. If I give, how am I gonna reply? I don't have it to give.
John Gunter:Right? Well, what is that faith in? That's faith in the money that I don't wanna give up. It's not faith in God to take care of me. Okay?
John Gunter:Understand, God does not have limited resources. Sometimes we feel like He does. Well, I didn't wanna bother God with that. You ever said that? There's stuff going on my way.
John Gunter:I know he's got, you know, there's starving kids in Africa. I didn't wanna I didn't wanna pray about that. God is not a god of limited resources. He can take care of you. You understand that, church?
John Gunter:God can take care of you. Number 3, just give. See what god does with that. Lean into it as a Christian, having your identity in Christ, just give. Find ways, if you've prayed about it, God, help me to see ways that I can give and help people.
John Gunter:As you pray about that, I promise you stuff's gonna show up. Opportunities to give will happen. So pray about it. Understand God is not limited in His resources. And number 3, just give.
John Gunter:Paul, ends again with with Timothy in his final charge to him. He says, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches. But riches feel so certain, don't they? If I just had money, right? If I just had money, this would this would change.
John Gunter:He says, not the not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. This is how to set your sights, to set your treasure somewhere else other than right here. Do you see that? What Paul does not tell Timothy that if you have money, you're going to hell.
John Gunter:What he said is, charge the rich to not be a certain way. Charge them to do good, to be rich and good works. You're not putting faith in the money. You need to be a person of Christ. Rich and good works.
John Gunter:To be generous, ready to share, and by doing that, you are storing up treasure for themselves. Not here, but with God. Because that's who we follow. That's where our allegiance lie. And so this morning, I'm just going to ask you, do you have the right relationship with money?
John Gunter:Are you generously giving or does it feel like a burden when you are able to give? Do you believe the money that you have, that you've been blessed with is yours or do you see yourself as a steward of God's blessing? All of those things are things that you have to look in the mirror on. I can't point those out for you. All I can do is read to you and point you back to what scripture said.
John Gunter:And I pray that for all of us, we have the right relationship with money, that we give generously, that we store up for ourselves treasures in heaven and not just