Latest / Reformed Thinking / Grace-Ordered Generosity: The Spiritual Gift of Giving (Romans 12:6-8)

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Grace-Ordered Generosity: The Spiritual Gift of Giving (Romans 12:6-8) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed thinking. So today, our mission for this
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  deep dive is an A really extensive analysis of the
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  spiritual gift of giving. Yeah, we are drawing from 2
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  rigorous theological sources that, you know, really examine
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  Romans 12.6 to 8. Right.
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  And I am speaking directly to you, the listener right now,
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  because whether you associate giving with passing a velvet
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  collection plate or maybe a secularly philanthropic habit,
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  you picked up. Or even an activity reserved for
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  billionaires looking for tax write off.
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  Yeah, right. We are about to strip away those
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  modern assumptions because usually when we talk about a
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  financial audit, there is a clear expectation of
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  mathematical precision. You look at a bank statement and
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  the Ledger shows was a column for credits and well a column
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  for debits, right? The accountant points to the
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  bottom line. Yeah, it is clean, it is binary,
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  and it is comforting. We like numbers to be visible
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  and categorized because we like to know precisely where we
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  stand. 100% But when you step into the world of biblical
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  theology and spiritual affections, that accountants
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  Ledger is completely insufficient.
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  It really is. We are looking at an economic
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  and spiritual landscape that is, well, it is terrifyingly
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  revealing of our internal motives.
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  So true, and the reason behind this specific deep dive carries
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  a lot of weight. It does.
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  If you look at the modern evangelical landscape, it is
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  just flooded with charismatic chaos, pragmatism and prosperity
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  theology. Oh, completely flooded.
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  So by examining these specific theological sources, our goal is
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  to recover something ancient. We want to recover a
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  supernaturally enabled spirit rot disposition to share
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  material resources with radical simplicity.
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  And pure motives. Right, We need to cut through
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  the modern noise and look at what scripture mandates
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  regarding our material wealth. So to grasp what this gift
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  actually entails, we first have to tear down what it is not.
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  Yeah, we have to look at how modern culture has completely
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  distorted the concept of generosity.
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  Let us unpack those modern distortions.
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  The sources identify several massive errors in how giving is
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  perceived today. They do.
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  It is often reduced to institutional fundraising or,
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  you know, Guild laden emotional appeals.
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  Or maybe people just consider it a natural personality trait,
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  like people will say someone is just a naturally generous
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  person, attributing it to human temperament.
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  Right. Like it is just part of their
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  DNA. Yeah.
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  But the most insidious distortion is treating giving as
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  a transactional mechanism to acquire wealth or status.
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  Oh, absolutely. Modern Society treats generosity
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  like a transaction at a vending machine.
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  That is a great analogy. You put a coin in, expecting a
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  specific product to drop out into the tray.
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  Sometimes that product is social status.
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  Sometimes it is a bronze plaque on a hospital wing or in certain
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  circles it is a promised material blessing.
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  Yeah, you put in your $10 and you expect the machine to
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  dispense $100 back? Precisely.
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  But that vending machine mentality is entirely
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  unbiblical. The sources detail why this is
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  structurally incorrect. So how do the sources define it?
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  Well, giving in the context of Romans 12 is categorized as a
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  charisma. Which translates to a grace
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  endowment. Right, And operating from a
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  cessationist framework, we have to clarify what a grace
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  endowment means in practice. Yeah, let us pause there.
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  For anyone listening who might be unfamiliar with that
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  theological framework, let us look at the actual mechanics of
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  cessationism. Good idea.
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  It is not saying God stopped doing miracles.
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  It is saying the specific individuals endowed with the
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  ability to perform signs on command.
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  The apostles are no longer with us.
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  Exactly. I mean spot on.
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  Cessationism is the theological understanding that the
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  extraordinary Apostolic Sign gifts ceased with the closing of
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  the Biblical Canon. Those sign gifts included things
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  like predictive prophecy, speaking in unlearned foreign
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  tongues, and instantaneous miraculous healings.
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  Right, they had a highly specific historical function.
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  Which was authenticating the message of the apostles.
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  Right. Authenticating the message and
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  laying the initial groundwork for the early church before the
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  New Testament was completed. So once the building has its
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  bedrock laid, you stop pouring concrete and start framing the
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  walls. The sign gifts were the
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  concrete. That is a helpful way to picture
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  it, but the ordinary gifts of grace remain active today.
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  They do. The ordinary gifts of grace,
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  such as teaching, exhortation and giving, are still fully
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  operational. Right.
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  They're active specifically to sustain and edify the body of
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  Christ. So the ability to give with pure
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  simplicity is not a human personality trait.
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  No, it is a divine enablement. The Holy Spirit actively
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  reorders a person's affections. Like removing their natural
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  greed. Yes, removing the natural greed
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  and replacing it with a supernatural desire to release
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  their resources for the good of others.
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  I want you, the listener, to consider your own initial
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  thoughts when hearing the word giving.
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  Yeah. What is your gut reaction?
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  Do you feel suspicion because you have endured manipulative
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  appeals from organizations demanding your money?
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  Or do you feel a sense of worship?
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  Right, those two reactions reveal entirely different
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  internal frameworks. They really do.
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  And the fascination here is that this transactional view of
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  generosity, that vending machine mentality we discussed, it is
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  not a modern invention at all. Not at all.
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  It was the exact air the original audience in 1st century
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  Rome breathed. Oh, completely.
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  We cannot understand Paul's instruction without
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  understanding the streets of Rome, so let us examine the
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  historical context. Right.
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  The sources locate the Epistle to the Romans around 8057, right
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  under the rule of the Emperor Nero.
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  OK. And the Roman economy relied
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  entirely on something called a clientela system.
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  The patron client relationship. Right.
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  This system was the absolute bedrock of Roman society.
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  Wealthy patricians, known as patrons, would distribute funds,
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  food or legal protection to lower class plebeians who were
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  the clients. But we should clarify that this
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  was not charity in any sense of the word.
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  Not in the slightest the roofless mechanics of the
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  clientele. The system dictated that giving
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  was never free. It was a calculated social
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  contract. Exactly.
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  So the system demanded 2 things from the client pietas, which
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  means duty and fights, which means loyalty.
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  Duty and loyalty, right? If you were a plebeian client,
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  you had to offer public praise to your patron.
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  You had to provide daily deference at the morning
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  salutacio. Let us paint a picture of what
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  that morning Salutacio actually looked like for a regular person
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  in Rome. Oh, it was grueling.
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  You wake up before dawn, you put on your cold toga and you walk
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  through the dark streets to stand outside your wealthy
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  patrons house. Just waiting.
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  Yeah, you wait for him to open his doors, and when he does, you
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  flyer him. You inflate his public ego in
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  front of all the other clients. It sounds a bit like modern
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  corporate networking, honestly. It really does where you have to
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  consistently like and praise a managers terrible social media
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  posts just to stay in their good graces and secure a year end
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  bonus. Yeah, that is a perfect modern
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  parallel. And the patrician might give you
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  a small basket of food called a sportula.
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  But now you owe him. Right when he goes to the forum
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  to conduct business or vote, you have to follow him to make his
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  entourage look look massive. So generosity was a calculated
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  tool for acquiring honor, building political factions, and
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  dominating others. It was an economic leash.
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  Wow, an economic leash. That historical reality makes
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  the dynamic inside the Roman church incredibly volatile,
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  doesn't it? Oh, intensely volatile.
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  You have a local congregation made-up of both Jewish and
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  Gentile believers. The Gentile believers walked
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  into the church carrying the psychological baggage of the
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  clientele. A system.
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  They assumed anyone giving away money wanted public praise and
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  absolute loyalty in return. Yes.
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  Meanwhile, the Jewish believers carried their own historical
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  baggage regarding money. Right, because the Jewish
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  believers were accustomed to a rigid, mandated mosaic tax
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  system. The sources note that the Old
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  Covenant taxation structure when you combine the various
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  mandatory ties for the Levites, the festivals and the poor.
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  It added up. It yielded around 23% of an
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  individual's agricultural output annually.
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  So you have Jewish believers used to a strict legalistic
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  taxation system and Gentile believers used to a manipulative
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  ego driven patronage system. And they were all sitting in the
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  exact same room. How shocking was this new Grace
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  ordered instruction to both groups?
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  It would have been an absolute sociological earthquake.
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  Yeah, this instruction from Paul actively subverted the Pagan
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  social order. Paul commanded the affluent
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  believers to abandon their fleshly hierarchy.
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  They were no longer allowed to act like Roman patrons, buying
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  loyalty from the poorer church members.
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  Simultaneously, he commanded the poor to receive provision
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  without groveling. Without offering the morning
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  salutatio, right? And without feeling diminished,
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  it replaced manipulative patronage with a selfless, grace
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  driven unity. The psychological friction this
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  caused must have been intense. Oh, massive.
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  This brings us to a crucial structural point.
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  How could a wealthy Roman believer actually stop wanting
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  the social praise of. Patronage.
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  Their entire psychological makeup was wired for it.
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  Right, Paul knew a simple behavioral command like, you
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  know, telling them to be nicer with their money would fail.
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  It would completely fail. To overthrow such an entrenched
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  cultural system, he had to lay a massive theological groundwork
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  first. He had to dismantle their entire
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  worldview and rebuild it from scratch.
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  And that leads us directly into the theological architecture of
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  the book of Romans. Right.
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  The source outlined the literary structure of this epistle to
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  show how Paul accomplishes that demolition and rebuilding.
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  Right, chapters one through 11. Yeah, chapters one through 11
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  build an airtight case for total depravity.
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  And total depravity is the theological reality that all
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  humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, is under God's wrath.
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  Every mouth is stopped. Let us breakdown the mechanics
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  of total depravity for a moment, because the term is frequently
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  misunderstood. It is very misunderstood.
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  It does not mean every human being is as extensively evil as
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  a historical dictator. No, not at all.
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  It means that every single faculty of human nature, the
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  mind, the will, the emotions and the body, is tainted by sin.
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  Right. There is no pristine, unaffected
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  part of the human heart that can generate genuine God pleasing
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  righteousness on its own. We are completely incapable of
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  saving ourselves or even desiring a holy God without
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  divine intervention. Spot on.
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  And because of that total inability, Paul spends the next
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  several chapters detailing the ensuing through justification,
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  by grace alone, through faith alone.
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  This rescue is grounded entirely in the act of obedience of
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  Christ. Yes, Christ lived the perfect
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  life. We failed to live fulfilling the
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  law on our behalf. I like to compare chapters one
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  through 11 to the architectural blueprints and the poured
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  concrete of a massive skyscraper.
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  I like that. You cannot put the roof on which
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  represents the practical commands of chapter 12 without
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  that concrete hearing first, right?
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  If you try to live out the moral commands of Chapter 12 without
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  the theological bedrock of chapters one through 11, you
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  were just practicing behavioral modification.
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  Yeah, which is useless. You look at the grand hinge of
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  Romans 12.1. The famous therefore.
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  Yes, after 11 chapters of intense, dense theology, Paul
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  says. Therefore, he writes, I appeal
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  to you their four brothers, by the mercies of God.
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  He calls believers to present their bodies as living
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  sacrifices. Doctrine necessitates duty.
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  Theology ignites doxology. And doxology is simply an
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  expression of praise to God. Right.
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  The gift of giving is not an isolated moral shore.
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  It is a direct doxological response to sovereign grace.
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  You do not give to purchase mercy.
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  You give because mercy has already conquered you.
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  Oh. That is so good.
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  That flips the Roman patronage system and our modern vending
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  machine mentality completely upside down.
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  It destroys the idea that we can buy leverage with God or with
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  other people. It really does, and Paul
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  immediately grounds this massive theological shift in the body
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  metaphor found in Romans 12.4 to 5 right.
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  The Church is a living Organism united in Christ.
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  It is not a voluntary club you join for networking or social
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  benefits. Not at all.
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  Therefore, a giver is not an independent benefactor tossing
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  coins to a beggar from a position of superiority.
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  They are one member assisting another member within the exact
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  same organic body. The hand does not boast when it
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  feeds the mouth, right? It is just doing what the body
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  requires to survive. If we understand this body
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  dynamic, it changes the actual mechanics of giving entirely.
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  It overhauls it completely. But the specific Greek words
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  Paul uses to describe this action provide an even sharper
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  picture of the internal motives required.
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  They really do. Let us look at the exegetical
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  precision of the text. Romans 12.8 contains a highly
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  specific grammatical structure, Homometatus and hapiltati.
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  I am glad we were covering this I.
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  Want to spend a substantial amount of time breaking that
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  down? Because the lexical choices the
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  Holy Spirit inspired here are staggering.
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  We can start with the verb. The common Greek verb for giving
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  is digimy, right? This word simply means to hand
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  an object to someone. Like handing A cashier or $20
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  bill. Exactly is a physical transfer
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  of assets, completely devoid of any emotional or spiritual
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  connection. Yes, but Paul does not use
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  ditimi here. No, he does not.
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  He uses the compound verb meta ditimi.
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  The prefix meta signifies with or sharing.
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  Right when you touch that prefix, the word stops being a
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  sterile transfer of funds. It becomes something else
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  entirely. It signifies an intimate
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  impartation of 1's own life and substance.
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  It links the act of giving deeply to the concept of
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  fellowship or koinenia. This means writing a detached
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  check from a safe distance, while perhaps helpful to a
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  charity, misses the mark of the specific spiritual gift.
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  It falls short of metadigini. True metadigmi involves
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  proximity. Think of it this way, It is not
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  just mailing a check to a food bank.
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  It is opening your home, taking food out of your own pantry,
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  cooking the meal, and sitting across the table to eat with the
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  person in need. It requires sharing the very
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  resources you rely on for your own sustenance.
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  Proximity and shared vulnerability are the core
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  mechanics of this verb. It is entering into the
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  affliction of a fellow St. And then we hit the
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  prepositional phrase that governs how this action must be
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  performed. Haplatuti.
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  The etymology here is really fascinating, yeah.
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  Walk us through it. It is derived from the alpha
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  primitive, the prefix a, which negates whatever follows it.
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  You can see this in English words like atheist which means
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  no God. Right.
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  The second part of the word is palute, which means twofold.
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  So literally the phrase means without folds.
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  Without folds. I love that physical imagery.
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  It is vivid, isn't it? It pictures an open hand,
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  completely flat with nothing hidden in the creases.
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  It signifies singleness, sincerity and pure motives.
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  It means there is no hidden agenda tucked into the folds of
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  the gift. And the sources reference a
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  chilling historical event from the book of Acts to illustrate
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  the exact opposite of this concept.
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  They do. Ananias and Sapphira are
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  presented as the ultimate historical example of folded
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  giving. Let us walk through the
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  mechanics of that story for our listeners.
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  Ananias and Sapphira were members of the early church in
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  Jerusalem. They sold a piece of property
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  they own. They kept back some of the
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  proceeds for themselves, which was their right, but they
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  brought a portion to the apostles and publicly presented
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  it as if it were the full 100% amount.
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  And we must analyze what their actual sin was.
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  It was not that they kept some of the money.
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  No, not at all. The impostle Peter explicitly
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  told Ananias that before the land was sold it belonged to
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  him, and after it was sold the money was entirely under his
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  control. Their sin was deceit.
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  Yes, they hid ulterior motives of public glory beneath an
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  outward act of charity. They wanted the reputation of
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  radical generosity. They wanted to look like
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  Barnabas, who had just sold land and given everything.
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  Right. They wanted the status without
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  the reality of the sacrifice. They folded desire for social
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  capital into their offering. So giving without folds means
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  operating without seeking leverage, without desiring a
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  seat of honor on a committee, and without expecting any
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  earthly reciprocity. It means your internal Ledger is
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  completely blank regarding what you expect in return.
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  Completely blank. I have to ask you, the listener,
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  how could anyone possibly live up to this standard?
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  It is a heavy question. How can a human being, with our
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  natural inclination towards selfishness, achieve completely
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  pure unfolded motives? It feels impossible for the
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  human heart. It really does.
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  The answer requires looking away from our own efforts and turning
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  toward the ultimate model of this gift.
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  Right. This raises an essential
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  theological necessity. We must arrive at the
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  Christological epicenter of generosity.
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  Both sources emphatically anchored the spiritual gift in
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  the redemptive accomplishment of Jesus Christ.
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  They specifically referenced Second Corinthians 8.9.
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  Which states that though Christ possessed the cosmos, he became
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  poor so that we might become affluent in grace.
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  Though he was wealthy, yet for your sake he became poor.
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  We have to connect the gift of giving directly to the doctrine
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  of penal substitutionary atonement.
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  Yes, this is crucial. Christ is the ultimate possessor
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  and demonstrator of metadidumi. He did not just drop provision
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  from the sky out of a heavenly surplus while remaining
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  completely untouched by our misery.
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  No, he emptied himself, taking on human flesh as Philippians
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  chapter 2 states. His giving was purposeful,
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  covenantal, and substitutionary. For anyone who is not a seminary
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  graduate, we should pause and look at the actual mechanics of
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  penal substitutionary atonement. That is a good.
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  Idea. It is essentially a legal
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  transfer of guilt and righteousness.
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  Penal relates to the penalty of the law.
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  Substitutionary means someone else takes your place.
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  And atonement is the reconciliation between God and
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  humanity. So Christ steps into the
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  courtroom, takes our rap sheet of sins onto himself, pays the
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  penalty through his death. And in exchange, change legally
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  transfers His perfect record of righteousness to us.
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  That legal transfer is the baseline of our faith.
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  Yes, it is the bedrock. To illustrate Meta do me in this
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  context, let us consider an analogy.
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  Imagine a small business owner who goes completely bankrupt
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  owing millions of dollars he can never repay.
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  The CEO of a massive multinational conglomerate hears
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  about this. The CEO does not just wire a
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  grant from a distance to keep the lights on for another month.
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  Which would be de Doon me, right?
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  Instead, the CEO steps down from his position, legally assumes
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  the bankrupt man's identity, takes the millions in debt upon
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  himself, goes to debtors prison, and legally transfers all his
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  personal wealth and stock options to the bankrupt man.
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  He assumes the total liability, so the destitute man receives
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  all the assets. That is meant to do me.
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  It is total impartation. That is a phenomenal analogy.
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  When a believer operates in the spiritual gift of giving, their
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  action becomes a microcosm of that exact gospel reality.
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  They're demonstrating to the visible world the invisible self
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  entertain grace of Jesus Christ. But because our own motives are
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  frequently tangled with pride, because we often still have
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  selfish folds in our intentions, right, we have to rely entirely
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  on the imputed righteousness of Christ.
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  We do. It is only because of His
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  perfect record, credited to us, that our faltering, imperfect
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  gifts are accepted by the Father ET all.
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  We bring our unfolded gifts knowing Christ's perfection
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  covers the lingering flaws in our execution.
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  That is the the only way it works.
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  Once you grasp this Christ centered reality, the modern
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  corruptions of giving look not just misguided, but entirely
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  hostile to the gospel. They look like a blatant insult
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  to what Christ accomplished. They really do.
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  The sources aggressively wield this text against modern errors.
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  They systematically target the prosperity gospel, Roman
• 20:15
  Catholic works, righteousness, Marxist wealth redistribution,
• 20:19
  and seeker sensitive pragmatism. It is a thorough critique.
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  Before we get into these specific movements, I want to
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  add a quick point of clarification for you, the
• 20:27
  listener. We are not taking a theological
• 20:29
  or political side here. Right, we are just looking at
• 20:31
  the sources. We are impartially reporting how
• 20:33
  the authors of our provided material apply their
• 20:35
  interpretation of Romans 12 to critique various contemporary
• 20:39
  systems. Our goal is strictly to convey
• 20:42
  the ideas contained in the original documents so you
• 20:45
  understand the author's arguments.
• 20:46
  Yeah, just delivering the information.
• 20:48
  So let us examine the prosperity gospel first.
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  If the explicit command of Romans 12 is to give without
• 20:54
  folds on Hapil teddy, then giving a seed faith offering to
• 20:58
  guarantee physical health or exponential financial returns is
• 21:02
  the exact opposite of this text. It turns God into an investment
• 21:06
  algorithm. Yeah, you are folding a massive
• 21:09
  selfish demand right into the center of your offering
• 21:12
  envelope. It revives the Pagan Roman
• 21:14
  patronage system, but attempts to make God the manipulated
• 21:18
  patron. Which is wild when you think
• 21:19
  about it. The individual gives a small
• 21:21
  amount of money and demands that God return wealth and health as
• 21:25
  a contractual obligation. So what about the sources
• 21:28
  critique of Roman Catholic almsgiving?
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  They note that historically, the medieval church tied charity to
• 21:34
  mitigating purgatorial suffering.
• 21:36
  Right. The theological mechanics of
• 21:37
  purgatory suggests that believers must undergo temporal
• 21:40
  punishment for sins before entering heaven.
• 21:43
  And the practice of buying indulgences or giving alms was
• 21:46
  tied to reducing that time. So how do the sources assess
• 21:49
  that? The sources argue this
• 21:51
  effectively turns grace into a purchase commodity.
• 21:54
  Which directly contradicts the bedrock of Romans chapters one
• 21:57
  through 11. Right, where justification is
• 21:59
  declared to be by faith alone, apart from any human works.
• 22:03
  The sources also address secular political ideologies.
• 22:07
  How do they contrast biblical giving with systems like Marxist
• 22:10
  critical race theory and secular social justice movements?
• 22:13
  The authors argue that Marxist frameworks demand secular state
• 22:16
  coercion and forced wealth redistribution to achieve
• 22:19
  equity. So it is forced, not free.
• 22:22
  Right. They point out that biblical
• 22:23
  giving, in sharp contrast, is defined as a voluntary,
• 22:27
  cheerful, spirit wrought act. The sources assert that genuine
• 22:31
  generosity cannot be mandated by a secular government extracting
• 22:35
  taxes. Right.
• 22:35
  It must flow freely from a renewed mind that willingly
• 22:38
  shares resources. Finally, the sources tackle
• 22:41
  seeker sensitive pragmatism. Yeah, this refers to a modern
• 22:45
  church growth model that flatters wealthy donors.
• 22:48
  Granting them unbiblical ecclesiastical authority simply
• 22:52
  to keep the offering plates full and fund massive building
• 22:55
  projects. Exactly.
• 22:57
  I want to directly ask you, the listener, to examine your own
• 23:00
  environment. Look around.
• 23:02
  Have you witnessed church cultures that resemble a Roman
• 23:05
  patronage system more than a biblical body?
• 23:07
  It happens. Have you seen wealthy donors
• 23:10
  given seats on elder boards simply because of their brink
• 23:12
  accounts, regardless of their spiritual maturity?
• 23:16
  Yeah, have you seen sound doctrine compromised or avoided
• 23:18
  because the leadership is terrible of offending a major
• 23:22
  donor? The authors argue these are the
• 23:24
  exact systems Romans 12 is designed to shatter.
• 23:27
  And tearing down false systems is only half the task required
• 23:30
  by the text. Romans 12 also demands positive,
• 23:34
  practical obedience in the daily life of the believer.
• 23:37
  We must cultivate a culture of radical liberality within the
• 23:41
  local congregation. So how does an individual
• 23:43
  actually do that? And more specifically, how do
• 23:46
  they determine if they possess this specific gift of giving
• 23:50
  rather than just the general mandate for all Christians to be
• 23:53
  generous? Yeah, it is a common question.
• 23:55
  Because we need to be clear. Every single Christian is
• 23:58
  commanded to be generous. Does identifying this as a
• 24:01
  specific spiritual gift give everyone else a free pass to be
• 24:04
  stingy? Not at all.
• 24:06
  The general command for generosity applies to every
• 24:09
  believer, right? However, the sources detail
• 24:12
  specific indicators for those uniquely gifted by the Holy
• 24:15
  Spirit in this specific area. What are the indicators?
• 24:18
  They involve an unusual ability to earn and multiply funds,
• 24:21
  combined with a distinct, almost unnatural contentment with what
• 24:25
  1 already has. So they make a lot, but they do
• 24:28
  not need a lot. Right these individuals possess
• 24:30
  a sharp sensitivity to material needs around them, often
• 24:34
  noticing financial struggles and others that most people
• 24:36
  completely miss. And crucially, they experience a
• 24:39
  unique joy and hidden, unacknowledged support.
• 24:42
  Yes, they do not want their names on the buildings.
• 24:46
  Understanding how to practice this requires what Reformed
• 24:49
  theologians call the third use of the law.
• 24:52
  Let us break down the third use of the law for anyone scratching
• 24:55
  their head right now. Well.
• 24:57
  Protestant reformers categorize the moral law of God into 3
• 25:00
  distinct uses to help believers understand its function.
• 25:04
  The first use of the law is the bridle.
• 25:07
  It restrains societal evil by threatening punishment, keeping
• 25:10
  human corruption in check. Like speed limits.
• 25:13
  Right. The second use is the mirror.
• 25:16
  It exposes our sin, shatters our self righteousness, and drives
• 25:20
  us to Christ for salvation. And the third use.
• 25:22
  The third use is the guide. Once a person is saved by grace,
• 25:26
  the law no longer condemns them. Instead, it acts as a lamp,
• 25:30
  showing the grateful believer how to live in a way that
• 25:32
  pleases the God who saved them. Right.
• 25:34
  Romans 12.8 functions as this third use, giving us the divine
• 25:38
  metric for how to exercise the gift of giving properly.
• 25:41
  There are practical boundaries to this obedience as well.
• 25:44
  Giving is not just throwing money at anything that looks
• 25:46
  sad. No, the sources stressed that
• 25:48
  generosity must never subsidized false doctrine or manipulative
• 25:52
  ministries. Compassion must be yoke to
• 25:54
  truth. We cannot fund organizations
• 25:57
  that obscure the gospel or promote heresy simply because
• 26:01
  they were doing visible humanitarian work.
• 26:04
  That is a tough boundary for a lot of people today.
• 26:06
  It is furthermore the authors recommend adopting A Puritan
• 26:10
  mindset of plain living. Which allows believers to view
• 26:13
  their bank accounts not as personal kingdoms to be
• 26:16
  endlessly expanded for their own comfort.
• 26:19
  But as armories outfitting the Kingdom of Light.
• 26:21
  Bank accounts as armories. I love that phrasing.
• 26:24
  Powerful imagery. It changes your bank statement
• 26:26
  from a scoreboard into a supply depot.
• 26:29
  And it brings up the beauty of hidden faithfulness.
• 26:32
  Yes, we are talking about the quiet check written to a
• 26:34
  struggling single mother so she can fix her car.
• 26:37
  Or the discreetly delivered meal left on a porch.
• 26:39
  The missionary supported financially for decades without
• 26:42
  any fanfare, without any quarterly newsletter praise,
• 26:46
  without an engraved plaque. The secular world measures
• 26:49
  significance by visibility. It measures success by the size
• 26:53
  of the name on the hospital wing.
• 26:54
  But God measures significance by faithful simplicity.
• 26:58
  He looks for hands operating without folds.
• 27:01
  If a local congregation internalizes these mechanics, it
• 27:05
  alters how the entire community functions.
• 27:08
  A healthy church will refuse to manipulate giving through guilt,
• 27:11
  theater, sad background music, or entertainment.
• 27:14
  Right. It honors quiet faithfulness.
• 27:16
  It cultivates transparent, accountable systems for mercy
• 27:20
  ministries so that members learn to see and meet actual human
• 27:23
  needs rather than just funding abstract corporate programs.
• 27:27
  It is a complete overhaul. Synthesizing the extensive
• 27:30
  ground we have covered today reveals A striking picture of
• 27:33
  the Christian life. We have seen how divine grace
• 27:36
  utterly humbles the Giver, stripping away the illusion that
• 27:39
  we own anything outright. We really do not own it.
• 27:42
  We have examined how union with Christ binds the affluent and
• 27:46
  the impoverished together in one organic body, effectively
• 27:49
  destroying the manipulative patronage systems of the ancient
• 27:52
  and modern world. We have seen the linguistic
• 27:55
  mechanics of how the Spirit equips believers to impart their
• 27:58
  resources without folds, single minded, pure and modeled
• 28:03
  entirely on the legal and physical self emptying sacrifice
• 28:07
  of Jesus Christ. It demands a complete
• 28:10
  reorientation of how we view material reality.
• 28:13
  Everything we have is a received trust from a sovereign God meant
• 28:17
  to be deployed for His glory and the good of our fellow members
• 28:20
  in the body. Which leaves you, the listener,
• 28:23
  with a final consideration. Consider what would happen to
• 28:26
  the grip of materialism in your own life if you genuinely
• 28:29
  internalize the belief that you are simply a steward dispensing
• 28:33
  another master's wealth. It changes everything.
• 28:35
  The early believers dismantled the ruthless Roman socioeconomic
• 28:39
  machines simply by giving with transparent sacrificial love,
• 28:42
  refusing to play the game of patronage and pride right.
• 28:45
  What systems of greed, leverage, and social posturing could be
• 28:48
  shattered in your own community today if you truly embrace the
• 28:52
  charisma of liberality? The Ledger we talked about at
• 28:55
  the beginning of this deep dive is not just tracking dollars and
• 28:57
  cents. No, it is tracking the visible
• 28:59
  evidence of a renewed heart. The financial X-ray shows the
• 29:02
  truth of what we actually cherish.
• 29:04
  Thank you for joining the conversation today.
• 29:06
  Keep your hands open and keep your motives without folds.