Latest / The Grove Church / The Joy of Generosity

Transcript

The Joy of Generosity · The Grove Church

• 0:01
  Charlie Loften: Hello, and welcome to The Grove Church podcast. I'm Charlie Lofton, the lead pastor there, and we are so glad that you're joining us. Whether you are a member and you're just catching up on a sermon that you missed or you're someone who's brand new, we are really glad that you were joining us. And if you are new in some way, and I know that a lot of people will do that, we'll listen to sermons first before they visit. I want you to know that we would love to meet you at any point.
• 0:25
  You can join us live in our services on Sunday, nine and 10:30 or our streaming service at 10:30. Either way, we would love to be able to get to know you. And regardless of why you are here listening to this sermon today, thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:41
  Charlie Loften: Hey, good morning. If you are new, I'm Charlie. I'm the lead pastor here and really glad you are worshiping with us today. And if you are new, I'd love to meet you. We have a little thing in the back, a little table there.
• 0:53
  Have a gift I'd love to give you. Just find out a little more about you, any way that we can help you. We'd love to meet you after the service. Here at The Grove, we're inviting the people of Northwest Arkansas to know Jesus,
• 1:04
  Charlie Loften: to build meaningful relationships, and share His hope with the world.
• 1:08
  Charlie Loften: And so we would love to do that with you today. And so so thankful that you're here. And if you were here last week, I hope that you remember what we talked about last week. I don't. I was really bad sick.
• 1:20
  It bad. It was one of these things, like, it's hard to describe, but anytime I would look up at the lights, I would feel like I was about to pass out. So I was texting people later, like, were you there? Like, I never I never even saw I never saw anybody. It was it was wild.
• 1:34
  But anyways, I was here. It seemed like that somebody said something. I was speaking the whole time, so I don't know. We're wrapping up our series in Philippians today, and feeling feeling better today, a
• 1:45
  Charlie Loften: little, you know, still a
• 1:47
  Charlie Loften: little tired from it all, but just feeling feeling better. And we're wrapping up here in Philippians chapter four, and this passage has two of the most popular verses in all the Bible in it, and all right here together. These are two of our favorite verses. We take them out, we put them on posters, We put them on inspirational things on our desk. We love these verses.
• 2:10
  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, and my God will supply all your need. These are great verses to pop out of context, slap on a wall, and then we just give them the kind of these broad real meanings, which is to and and we turn these powerful promises into God really almost into cliches because we're not really willing to do the work.
• 2:34
  Charlie Loften: It was like, what what's really going on here?
• 2:37
  Charlie Loften: In what context did Paul say that? Because out, right, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Out of context, I mean, that is a very that is a very broad promise. And one of our values here that we talk about at The Grove a lot, especially at Connections, one of the things that really kind of drives who we are is we use this word thoughtful. We want to be thoughtful.
• 3:00
  And we don't mean in the sense of I remembered your birthday and I got you a gift, not that kind of thoughtful, but just in a giving really kind of next level consideration to something. We just want to say things. And too often, kind of taking verses out of context and applying promises kind of too broadly, it's just not very thoughtful, and it can cause problems. It really is what I would call toddler thinking. And this is if you don't have a toddler yet or a preschooler yet or something like that, like if you're working your way up towards this, consider this good parenting advice.
• 3:34
  Everybody else already knows what I'm talking about. Like, and our of all our kids, our middle one, Lauren, was probably the most like this. Hey, Lauren. Get yourself some breakfast. What do want me to get for breakfast?
• 3:45
  And then you say back, and you some of you are gonna flinch. Just like, just anything's fine. Just get you some breakfast. Two minutes later, you see Lauren, and she's got an ice cream sandwich. And you're like, this is not breakfast?
• 3:59
  You said I could have anything. And you're like, And so you gotta you close all the loopholes. Okay, Lauren, go play. What can I what do you want me to do? Just just go do anything.
• 4:11
  No. No. No. You can't say, okay. Come here.
• 4:13
  Come here. Come here. Come here.
• 4:14
  Charlie Loften: Come here. I want you to go play. It needs to be quiet. It needs to not break anything. It needs to
• 4:19
  Charlie Loften: be within the context of the home barriers. And you just enclose it. You can just see your brain kinda go, okay. You can't just say things because suddenly, you said I could do anything. These sort of broad promises, they don't hold up to real life.
• 4:44
  And so if you walk around believing that I can
• 4:47
  Charlie Loften: accomplish anything because of Jesus, that's not gonna when life hits you, it's not gonna work. If my God supplies all your need,
• 4:59
  Charlie Loften: if what that means is you're always gonna have everything you want no matter what,
• 5:05
  Charlie Loften: and life hits you, then there's gonna be a problem. But both of these verses, if we really understand it, because when
• 5:13
  Charlie Loften: we when we overgeneralize them,
• 5:15
  Charlie Loften: when we oversimplify them, they act we we we give it fear we theoretically are giving it more power, but really we're taking its power away, and
• 5:25
  Charlie Loften: we lose the power of these promises. So we're gonna look at them together. You know, they're just a few verses apart, and we're gonna wrap up this series in Philippians and kind of figure out what the context of these two verses really are. And unfortunately for you, what that means is you have accidentally stumbled today into a sermon on giving and generosity. So here we are.
• 5:50
  Philippians four verse 10, where we are kinda working our way through this whole book. Right? Paul is talking about joy and just how much they bring him joy and how Christ gives him joy, and he is passing this joy onto them. Meanwhile, he's also kind
• 6:06
  Charlie Loften: of giving them some reminders, some corrections. You need
• 6:10
  Charlie Loften: to love people well. You need to be a servant like Jesus, and you need to have a focus that puts your focus on Jesus. Mark gave a great message a couple of weeks ago about, you know, just putting your eyes on Jesus and pursuing Him fully. And then last week, I believe, question mark, we talked about that He's called us to kind of live up to all the incredible things that He's done for us. And Paul gives a really good kind of summary of kind of what Christian living can really look like, and how to pursue fullness with Jesus.
• 6:43
  And now he's wrapping it up here. And again, I think the why of why Paul wrote this, there's a lot going on. There's some things he wanted to correct. He wanted to teach them a little bit about pursuit of Christ, but a lot of the meaning behind why he wrote this letter is gonna be found here at the
• 7:00
  Charlie Loften: very end. Verse 10, Philippians chapter four.
• 7:06
  Charlie Loften: I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I'm not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
• 7:24
  Charlie Loften: I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. And so he basically says,
• 7:41
  Charlie Loften: I yeah. I so excited. I'm rejoicing with the Lord because of your generosity towards me. That that you thought of me to give to what God is doing in my ministry. I'm I'm so thankful.
• 7:56
  And I know that you're concerned, it's always been there. I know it's always been there, but you hadn't had the opportunity really to kind of make it happen again, and and and I and I appreciate it. And so a lot of this letter, I mean, is, you know, Paul's got joy, he's trying to transfer this joy to him, but a lot
• 8:12
  Charlie Loften: of it too is just, it's a thank you letter for support of his ministry and an encouragement for them to continue to support his ministry. He's like, I'm and I'm I'm just so thankful. I'm so thankful for for what for what you've done and how you have contributed. And then
• 8:29
  Charlie Loften: he kinda gives a qualifier here, and I don't know what you're like, but I can be a little bit cynical when I read letters, fundraising pitches from organizations or people. Sometimes you like, I'm a read between the lines kind of person sometimes. It's something I wish I could just not be. And so Paul says some things like, oh, come on, man. He's like, what does he say?
• 8:51
  I'm not saying this because I'm in need.
• 8:54
  Charlie Loften: And I'm like, bro, I mean, come on.
• 8:56
  Charlie Loften: Like, he's like, he's like, I'm not saying this because I I I need more money. And like, and somebody else maybe is like, okay, that's a ploy. But with Paul, mean, I genuinely believe what he's
• 9:08
  Charlie Loften: I genuinely believe it. He's like, he's he is both incredibly thankful for their generosity and that this need is being met. See, but I
• 9:18
  Charlie Loften: don't want you to get the impression, because there's actually something that God has really taught me that's important. I don't want you
• 9:23
  Charlie Loften: to get the impression that somehow I'm sitting over here in some sort of desperate need if you don't give. That's not the situation I'm in. Because the reality of it is, I've been through a lot.
• 9:35
  Charlie Loften: I've had money. I've not had money. I've been hungry, and I've been very well fed. And there's a really cool thing that God has taught me, that no matter what circumstances I find myself in, I have learned to be content.
• 9:53
  Charlie Loften: Whether I've got a little, a lot, somewhere in between, nothing, no matter what I have, I've learned to be content. And the reason I can do this, I can do
• 10:05
  Charlie Loften: all of this. I can do all these things. I can find contentment in every circumstance that you can imagine through Jesus who gives me strength. The way the n I the NIV here translates is kind of like, well, let's just let's just kind of translate it here where it makes the most sense. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
• 10:26
  It's not the most literal interpretation of the words, but it is what, in fact, what Paul
• 10:31
  Charlie Loften: is saying. All of these things that I've been through,
• 10:34
  Charlie Loften: I've learned to find contentment. And the reason I can do this, I can do all
• 10:38
  Charlie Loften: of that, all these things because of Jesus Christ who gives me strength.
• 10:45
  Charlie Loften: So we'll say it this way. We'll just kinda take a very simple approach to this, because I think there is something that Paul has experienced that he wants to celebrate with them,
• 10:55
  Charlie Loften: and then he wants to pass it back to them.
• 10:57
  Charlie Loften: And we'll say it this way, that God will always take care
• 11:00
  Charlie Loften: of you. God's gonna take care of you.
• 11:04
  Charlie Loften: I've had a little. I've had a lot. I've had everything in between, and I have learned that God is going to take care of me.
• 11:14
  Charlie Loften: Beyond that, I've learned that no matter what life throws at me, I can be content with it. That is very, very different than this verse being about accomplishment. Again,
• 11:29
  Charlie Loften: a very common place for this to be used is in Christian high school sports teams all over the world. You can do it. You can jump further. You can run faster. You can make the goal.
• 11:42
  We can win the game. We can do all because we believe I can you can do it. You can accomplish things. You can do anything you set your mind to because of Jesus who gives you strength, which is an interesting blend of Americanism and just mediocre,
• 12:01
  Charlie Loften: I don't know, hermeneutics, the ability to read and understand a verse. Right? It's
• 12:09
  Charlie Loften: an American ideal kind of just crammed into something that Paul is not saying. This is not about what you can accomplish. And it's not just simply about what you can endure.
• 12:21
  Charlie Loften: But in fact, the promise understood is of great value. Can you imagine being in a place mentally, emotionally, spiritually, that no matter what this world threw at you, not that you could have the courage to get through it, not that you could learn to endure it, but that you could be content in all things through a strength that Jesus would give you.
• 12:58
  Charlie Loften: He doesn't say that God will fix all the problems. If you believe him hard enough and you believe and you're strong, then God will fix the problem, and you can do all this through the strength.
• 13:08
  Charlie Loften: It doesn't say anything about fixing problems. It doesn't say anything about making them better. It doesn't say anything about timelines. It just says no matter where you are, no matter what you're going through,
• 13:21
  Charlie Loften: not just that you'll endure it, but that you could be content. I know what it's like to have a lot, and there's actually some really cool things about it. I know what it's
• 13:30
  Charlie Loften: like to not have very much. And I can be at peace. I can be at peace no matter what.
• 13:38
  Charlie Loften: You know? And I've been I connect with this. We've we've you know, my wife and
• 13:44
  Charlie Loften: I, we've been married almost thirty two years, and we have lived a lot of different seasons with all all we we have been well below the poverty line, and we have we have been places where we had a significant amount of resources. Now that my wife is working full time,
• 14:01
  Charlie Loften: and we we we are in a place that we've never been before, but we've been all over the map. And when you've been all over the map and you've experienced all the different ways that this world can come
• 14:12
  Charlie Loften: at you, you you always realize you begin to realize everything's short term. Everything has its strengths. Everything has its weaknesses. And Paul has gotten to the point to where he can just I can just be good. I don't have
• 14:30
  Charlie Loften: to be nervous during the good times that they'll end, and I don't have to be scared in the bad times that they'll never end.
• 14:37
  Charlie Loften: I can just be at peace with where God has me.
• 14:41
  Charlie Loften: And I think one of the the best ways that we learned this was this is almost twenty five years ago when my my we were in seminary, which is grad school for preachers, and we were in Denver, and we lived in some on campus apartments. I believe it was two bedroom apartment, about 400 square feet total. Very, very small. Very two little small bedrooms. And, you know, some people talk about, oh, man, that kitchen was so small.
• 15:08
  There wasn't room for two people to pass each other. This kitchen was so small,
• 15:12
  Charlie Loften: there wasn't room for two people. Full stop. There just wasn't room for two people.
• 15:18
  Charlie Loften: It was just everything was cramped, and it was dank. It was kind of mildewy, and it was just a lot. And meanwhile, we had a newborn and a toddler. And that's a lot in 10,000 square feet, much less significantly less than that. And so finally, when seminary was over, we moved to St.
• 15:37
  Louis, and we're able to buy a house. We'd owned a house before we moved to Denver. We're able
• 15:42
  Charlie Loften: to buy a house again.
• 15:43
  Charlie Loften: It was a very nice house. It was larger, significantly larger. Everybody had their own bedroom, and it was great. And after about a week, our then, at the time,
• 15:54
  Charlie Loften: four year old daughter, Maile, she's just sobbing, sobbing.
• 16:01
  Charlie Loften: Like, what's wrong, baby? It's like, I miss the old house. And you're like, okay, you're insane. Like, what? What could you like?
• 16:09
  Would you you have your own room. There's a playroom now. We've got a yard. Like, what on or, like, what do
• 16:15
  Charlie Loften: you mean? Like, what what and we're not make you mad at her, but that's kinda what you're thinking. It's like, oh, sweetie, like, what's wrong? Like, what did you like, what what In the old place, we were all so close and always together. Very sweet.
• 16:27
  And, also, go to your other side of the house.
• 16:32
  Charlie Loften: It was very sweet. Like, she saw something. She saw the joy in a circumstance that her parents couldn't see. How beautiful it was at this time when when we've got mean, we've added this precious little one, and now that we're a family of four for the first time, that during this time when my life was chaotic and school and then working and all these different things, that when we were together, we were together. It was a beautiful thing that she saw that we couldn't.
• 17:04
  Charlie Loften: And some of the worst things we've ever been through have that to them. There's actually something beautiful if we can learn to see it. And you can see it, and you can do that. In fact, you can do anything like that. You can find the joy and peace and contentment in all things through Christ who gives you strength.
• 17:28
  No matter what you're going through, Paul, we're talking about giving and generosity here. He's on the receiving, and he's the one that needs it. And when even when he is the one in need, he is recognizing that God's gonna take care of him. I'm the one in need, but I don't have to I don't have to be in fear
• 17:49
  Charlie Loften: because I know that no matter what, God is with me and will always take care
• 17:54
  Charlie Loften: of me. So I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Verse 14. Yet
• 18:01
  Charlie Loften: it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel when I set out
• 18:09
  Charlie Loften: for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts. What I desire is that more be credited to your account. I can learn to be at peace no matter what, even if
• 18:32
  Charlie Loften: I don't have even if I don't have resources. But I don't want you to hear me say, no, I'm very thankful, very thankful for your generosity. I am so good of you to share my troubles.
• 18:42
  Charlie Loften: I was going through it, and you were there. And just history lesson here, you know,
• 18:46
  Charlie Loften: from the very beginning, like, there was nobody there
• 18:48
  Charlie Loften: at first that was helping support this awesome thing that we're doing for God here. No one, just you, only you.
• 18:57
  Charlie Loften: And in fact, when we were going to all these other towns, you think now there's multiple cities here involved. And yet, no matter where I was, there you were being generous. Now again, Paul's gonna give a disclaimer here that if just about anybody else said, it'd be like, this is some spiritual thing that you felt like you had to add. But I think Paul really means it because he says, listen, it's not that I need it's not it's not that I crave your money. I need I need your gift.
• 19:29
  Because really, he believe I I he believes this. It's not that it's not that it's not what I get out
• 19:35
  Charlie Loften: of it. What in fact I'm most excited about is how this is gonna be credited to your account. Of course it's good for me. Of course it's good for me. I was in trouble and you've met me along the way.
• 19:49
  Charlie Loften: And all these different times, I need to eat. I need a place to sleep, we've got travel expenses, all these things we're doing, trying to spread this gospel all over the region. And you've been there with me every time, and that has been great for me and for our ministry, but even more than that,
• 20:09
  Charlie Loften: I love that you're you're getting you get this phrase, raise your phrase, that this
• 20:16
  Charlie Loften: is getting added to your account. So we'll just say it this way, and we'll try to explain it. God's always gonna take care of you, and generosity blesses both the giver and the receiver. The fact that generosity blesses the receiver is known. That's just known.
• 20:30
  If someone is poor and struggling, and you give them something to eat, or a place to sleep, or you meet a physical need, that is obviously a blessing. We have some incredible missionaries in our church all around the world, some of whom are stationed here working for different ministries, and when we give to them and when we support them, it is obviously a freedom for them. It allows them to function, to live, to do incredible things for God. It is an incredible blessing to them. When you give to the church, it allows us to to do incredible ministries, to take that and and put it out there, to invest in our kids as someone who lives on that.
• 21:08
  I mean, I I get paid through your generosity. I can tell you it
• 21:12
  Charlie Loften: is a huge blessing to me when you financially support the church. And Paul's very clear about this. Every time you give, it is a blessing to me. It allows me to be who God has called me to be, and it gives me incredible freedom. And every person, whether it
• 21:28
  Charlie Loften: being someone who's going through a financial need or someone who through a church or a mission agency is dependent on generosity, it is a huge blessing every time. Thank you so much. We just kind of live in a constant state of just being appreciative of the blessing that comes from someone else's generosity. Now what Paul is saying,
• 21:53
  Charlie Loften: there's actually something really cool in it for you. And that's
• 21:57
  Charlie Loften: the thing I'm most excited about is the fact that this is getting added to your account. What does
• 22:01
  Charlie Loften: that mean? Now we have
• 22:03
  Charlie Loften: a joke around here that we'll use from time to time about that somehow that God has like a little note like a little note card, like carry around a little note, like, how many points do you have? You get a point for coming to church. You get a point, extra point. I'm here on time. I went to small group.
• 22:16
  I prayed today. I read my Bible. And I'm keeping up with all these points. We joke about that sometimes that that, you know, snow days or holidays or whatever, you get an extra point. I know it's a holiday weekend.
• 22:28
  No extra points
• 22:28
  Charlie Loften: a day. It's not that big a holiday. Sorry.
• 22:31
  Charlie Loften: Sorry. It's the rules. Rules are rules. And that somehow, like, you have to achieve a certain number of points or God's gonna
• 22:37
  Charlie Loften: be upset with you. And so you
• 22:39
  Charlie Loften: have an account with God, and he's keeping up with your points. I do not believe that that what is what Paul is talking about. That comes from a very legalistic sort of background to believe that I'm having to earn God's favor. But one thing that is absolutely true, cover to cover, Old Testament, New Testament, Jesus talks about it. Paul talks about it.
• 23:00
  Charlie Loften: It's every everywhere you look, you can find it. Is this idea that when you are generous, God is blessing you proportionally to your generosity.
• 23:16
  Charlie Loften: If you're a little bit generous, it says God's gonna bless you. If you're a lot generous, says God's gonna bless you a lot. That there is an overwhelming amount of blessing that comes when God's people are generous. Again, this is not how we get God to like us or to keep us from being mad at us, and it is not if I give God a $100, he's gonna give me a $100 back. If I give
• 23:37
  Charlie Loften: him a 100, he's gonna give me $200 back. There are
• 23:41
  Charlie Loften: times it can work that way, but that is not what what, by and large, what is being talked about here. But what God promises is that when you are generous, you will receive back more than you give. What value you get back will be greater. And Paul's like, you guys continue to be more and more generous. I can only imagine the amount of blessing that is getting added to you.
• 24:13
  What you are going through, the good things, the way they are multiplying, the way that God's favor and blessing is being multiplied in your life. And the more generous you are, the greater your account gets. And that is absolutely amazing. And I'm so excited about that for you.
• 24:38
  Charlie Loften: This is not just simply about what I can get to make sure that I have money. This is about what you can receive. Now I, again, I've I've I've been on on both ends of this. Well, I have we have been a worked for a college of ministry. We had to raise our own support.
• 25:05
  And every dollar that we earned, we had to raise it ourselves. And I have worked for a church for many, many years, where, again, we're kind of live off of the collective generosity of the church. But I've also had
• 25:19
  Charlie Loften: the privilege of being on the other side of it. Like, when, you know, it's
• 25:21
  Charlie Loften: not just for oh, you you you work for
• 25:23
  Charlie Loften: the church, I don't have to give, of course I give. And I love reinvesting the salary I get back into the church.
• 25:30
  Charlie Loften: I love doing that. I love being able
• 25:32
  Charlie Loften: to be a generous giver here in our church, and to invest in some of the families that have been sent out by the church, to be able to help somebody. Love being able to be a part of that, that my generosity, and I feel it. It's just that God has just done so much in our lives.
• 25:53
  Charlie Loften: I don't know what you're like. I am I'm a I'm a big buyer's remorse guy. Like, I'll shop for something forever. Like, find the best price, make sure this is
• 26:03
  Charlie Loften: what I want, and then as soon as I buy it, like, I have to make a commitment. Like, I'm not going to look anymore at it, because I don't want to accidentally find a better one or a sale next week, and it just gets weird. And then sometimes you buy something, and even if you get exactly what it is you wanted, like, this isn't what I thought it was gonna be. Now it's just sitting in a box somewhere. That's just sitting on a shelf in a drawer.
• 26:28
  Charlie Loften: That's the things I bought that I spent a lot
• 26:31
  Charlie Loften: of money on and really a lot of thought into that just turned out to be meh. Same thing with trips. I thought, oh, that'll be really fun if we go here and we do this and you go. I was
• 26:41
  Charlie Loften: like, oh, that's fine. That was fine, I guess. Happens to me most often with food. Right?
• 26:46
  Charlie Loften: If you spend like, I'm gonna spend a lot of money on a meal. I want a really high return on investment. And finally, my middle daughter Lauren, she kind of nailed this. It's like, dad, here's your problem going out to nice restaurants for you.
• 26:59
  Charlie Loften: And there's nothing like a sentence that starts with here's your problem, much less it's from your daughter. But she she nailed this. He's like, dad, here's your problem. You are comparing every meal that you eat compared to the enjoyment that you would get from a box combo at Cane's. Cost you $10 and the amount of enjoyment that you would get from chicken strips, toast, and fries.
• 27:23
  Now if
• 27:23
  Charlie Loften: you're gonna spend four times that much on a meal, you're expecting to get have something that you're going
• 27:28
  Charlie Loften: to enjoy four times, and it's never going to happen, which is both hurtful and true. And and so I'm like, what do we spend all that money for? But, you know, there is not $1 that I've ever given that I wish that I had back.
• 27:52
  Charlie Loften: Have I given to a cause that turned out to not be great or to a person ended up being not who they said they were? Sure. I've been taken advantage of. We all have been. It's all it's it happens, but that's not the same as regretting it.
• 28:07
  Because the value I got wasn't just in what I did for that person or for that group or for that mission or for that church.
• 28:15
  Charlie Loften: It was the investment then that God made back into my life. And every time that I have been generous, I have always felt that God was putting more in my account than was literally leaving my bank account. And this
• 28:33
  Charlie Loften: is what Paul this is what Paul is communicating here. And again, I've I've I've I've been on all sides of this. When we first moved here twenty I mean, fifteen years
• 28:43
  Charlie Loften: ago, some of
• 28:46
  Charlie Loften: you won't know this, some of you will laugh. Like, when we moved here, was a difficult financial. We took a pay cut to come, and then the house that we lived in, it stayed it was we we weren't able to sell it. So we had to move into this little small apartment. And the first time we had to pay rent, we go, we we go down there to the to the to the manager there to pay the rent.
• 29:08
  It's like, somebody's already paid it. They actually paid it for the whole fall. Next three months, paid. Never found out who. No, no, no idea who did that.
• 29:17
  Just somebody decided to be generous. And and they and they did this for they did this for us. And I've received it and I've been able to do the things like that for people and no matter what, god blesses both the giver and the receiver. The passage ends up this way, verse 18. I have received full payment and have more than enough.
• 29:45
  I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God, And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and father be glory forever and ever. Amen. I've gotten your generous gift, and now I'm great.
• 30:10
  I'm doing great. But I know that it cost you something. Wasn't free. Generosity isn't free. It costs you something.
• 30:22
  And when it when it costs you something, like, you you you feel it. You feel it. And Paul's like, yeah, I I've learned I've learned to be content in everything. I can do all of this. I can do all the things that god has called me to.
• 30:35
  I can be content in all circumstances. Those are the strength that god has given me. And now you're being generous. And I've learned that God's always gonna take care of me, and I want I wanna pass it back to you. Because here's the thing, and again, it's worth repeating.
• 30:54
  It's worth repeating here. This is what he's passing back to them. Hey, God's always gonna take care of you too. I've learned. I've been on I've been on the receiving end of this, and I've learned what it means to be content in all situations.
• 31:08
  And now you're being generous. And I want you to know that your God is going to take care of your every need. Now, if this were a part of a real long giving series and we could spend some more time here talking about how we as Americans really have blurred the lines between needs and wants. We've expanded the definition of the word need beyond recognition. But this promise of God being there to take care of you.
• 31:41
  This is this is this is this is an outcome based on generosity. It costs you something. It's not free. But God's always going to be there. And this is something that we're always something I think that holds a lot of us back from generosity, from generous giving.
• 31:59
  But what if this? But what if that? It's stretching my limits right now to to to live on what I have, to to to shrink that. I'm going to live on 90% of what I make. I I to be generous beyond that.
• 32:13
  Like, I I can't even begin to put my mind around it. I wouldn't even I wouldn't even know where to start. I it it would be too much. And Paul's like, I I understand that it's feel it can feel risky. It can feel like it costs you more than you have, but God is always going to be there.
• 32:33
  That same strength of of Christ that allows Paul to be content in all circumstances. Is the same favor and strength that comes on you to bless you and your finances when you're generous. And god will always be there for you. I think there are a lot of us out there living a very fear based approach to our finances. This is what Paul's addressing here.
• 33:04
  Some of us kind of live live out of fear. And then when we get in desperate situations, we want god, god help me. I need your help. You gotta you gotta help me. God is so I need I need I need you.
• 33:17
  And not in a formulaic way, but but in a still a very powerful way. You don't have to come to ask God's blessing on your finances when you are already being generous. When you are living a life of generosity, you know that God's supply will be there. And you also know that no matter what you go through, the strength of Christ will give you contentment through it. So whether you find yourself today on the on the need, on the receiving end, like I'm needing some generosity in my life, God is going to take care of you.
• 33:57
  But for many of us, we are on the giving end of that. And we are looking and desperate for the blessing and the favor of God to know that God is with us. And Paul says, when you are generous,
• 34:12
  Charlie Loften: your account will overflow and he will meet your every need. Let me pray.
• 34:30
  Charlie Loften: God, I pray that you would just develop us to be generous people. Some of us are on the edge. Some of us just gotten started. Some of us been at it for a while. But god, I pray that you would make us a generous people.
• 34:51
  As individuals, as families, and as a church. And that god, no matter what we're going through, we would trust that you would give us contentment in it. And no matter what we're going through, we would make a commitment to continue to be generous. And the god that you would be continually adding to our account. Your blessing and your favor.
• 35:22
  God, I pray that fear would not hold us back from giving and anxiety would not hold us back from being content in a scary situation. But that no matter what, god, we would know that you're with us and that through your strength, we can go through all of this and with you investing our account, god, we know that you'll take care of our every need and we are so thankful for the peace that can come from this and for your son, Jesus Christ, who makes it possible, and it's in his name we pray. Amen.
• 36:06
  Charlie Loften: Thanks again for joining us on our sermon I'm I'm I'm sermon podcast or just another issues of dealing with culture or theology, those kinds of things, you can check out our cultivate podcast. It's on the same feed. However, you found this particular podcast. So again, this is Charlie, the lead pastor at The Grove, and thank you so much for joining us.