Give & Take

Great to be with you today. A few weeks ago, I attended a conference down at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. And I've been to Southeast Main campus several times. But it is, it's massive enough that every time I go there, I'm kind of stopped in my tracks again. Their lobby is about the size of a football field and it has several escalators that access the double balconies in a 9,300 seat auditorium.

Now, Southeast isn't just a big church. There are really solid, biblical, dynamic church. They have 14 campuses that reach a combined 43,000 people each weekend. Now, large churches stand out because the average church size in the US is only about 65 people. Now, our church is not as huge as some.

We're not Southeast Christian, but we are considerably larger than many churches. And in my experience, when people walk into any large church, I think it's easy to make certain assumptions. For example, this church must be funded by some wealthy benefactor or they probably have a huge endowment with millions in the bank. Or I'll bet they have a corporate sponsor welcome to the Lucas Oil worship center. Or they must do a ton of car washes and bake sales every weekend.

Or I'll bet they talk about money all the time and none of those assumptions are true of us. You've probably noticed when you come in here on Sundays that parking is free. We don't charge admission. We don't sell communion. I mean, everything we do is funded by our collective generosity.

I mean, whatever you and I take away from Greenwood Christian Church is made possible by what we give to Greenwood Christian Church. We receive because we give. We're crowdfunded now. Crowdfunding is all around us. Craig introduced us to this topic last week.

You know, the initial production costs of the now very popular TV series the Chosen were crowdfunded. Crowdfunding efforts are going on right now to send relief to hurricane victims in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean. You know, many of us have contributed to GoFundMe campaigns to help others deal with the cost of a medical emergency or a house fire or the death of a loved one. Over the last few weeks, a number of you have crowdfunded help for our family as Alison recovers from surgery. She's doing great.

And there aren't words really to adequately express how grateful we are for all of your meals and other gifts. And on that note, I need to say that if I look to you like I've put on a couple of pounds, that has been crowdfunded too. Okay, that's partially your fault. So thank you. Crowdfunding works, you know, when lots of people contribute, we accomplish big things.

Last Sunday, Craig pointed out to us that crowdfunding was originally God's idea. God provides us the intelligence and the talent and the strength to generate income. He provides us with everything we have, both for us to enjoy and to share with others. Everything we have, everything we have is ultimately God's, and our giving is God's strategy for funding the work of ministry. Now this morning, I want to zoom in together on a couple of biblical case studies that highlight for us several practical principles about giving, beginning with this first case study, which Craig alluded to last week.

But we're going to do a little bit deeper dive. And this is all about the design and construction of the Tabernacle. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, Moses went up on top of a mountain and God met him there. And over a period of several weeks, God downloaded to Moses the law. And these commands for Israel to live by included both the Ten Commandments and design specifications for this portable worship tent that was called the Tabernacle.

So in Exodus 35, we read these words. It says, so Moses said to the whole Israelite community, this is what the Lord has commanded. From what you have. Take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light spices, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and other gems.

See God listed for Israel what it was going to take to build the tabernacle. And he commanded those who had these materials and were willing to share them to do so. They didn't all have the same resources, so God instructed them to give what they could, whether that was money or yarn or fabric or leather or wood or olive oil or spices or precious stones. And beyond these physical resources, God also commanded Israel to donate their skills in making the panels of the tent and the pegs and the ropes and the Ark of the Covenant. And the furnishings for the tabernacle, a table, a lamp stand, altars, and a curtain and specific clothing for all of the priests to wear.

And in response, we're told that then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses presence, meaning they went back to their tents where their personal possessions were kept. And everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting. For all its service and for the sacred garments, all the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do. The way Israel crowdfunded the construction of the Tabernacle really highlights for us a couple of practical principles about giving. Principle number one is giving is a team sport.

The Tabernacle was not underwritten by a single wealthy donor. There wasn't a corporate sponsor. It was not an Amazon Tabernacle. It was funded by the sacrificial gifts of many, many people. God's plan for funding his work is not just a few successful, deep pocketed donors.

It's all of us giving as we're able. Our giving is God's strategy for funding the work of ministry. And because giving is a team sport, God wants all of us in the game. This is not a team where we want anybody warming the bench. It's a team sport.

Principle number two is this, that giving is about what we have, not what we don't. The Tabernacle came together because people gave what they had, whether that was gold or leather or acacia wood or olive oil. Centuries later, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church these words. Paul said, if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. I think we sometimes convince ourselves that if we can't give in the same way or to the same level that somebody else does, we might as well not give at all.

And that way of thinking often keeps people from experiencing the joy, and I do mean the joy of giving. God never asks us to give what we don't have, just to be generous with what we do. Generosity is not a competition. It's about each of us giving as we're able and unleashing our collective gifts for Kingdom Impact. It took a lot of skilled laborers to make the tabernacle and its furnishings.

So God appointed two talented, creative men named Bezalel and Oholiab. If we have any expectant parents in the house still thinking about names, a couple. I can guarantee you will not have any other Bezalels or Oholiabs in your child's kindergarten class. But these two men were appointed to oversee the work that was being done to construct the tabernacle. It was their job to receive all of the people's offerings and use them to build everything that God had described.

Exodus 30:6 says, Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So you'll notice that Israel's tabernacle contributions did not arrive all at once. They didn't do a single special offering on one Sabbath.

It says day after day they brought more and more until something happened that I've never experienced as a church leader. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, the people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done. Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp. No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. And so the people were restrained from bringing more because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

In other words, the workers stopped working and they went as a group and they told Moses, please tell the people to stop donating. They've given too much. We can't accept anymore. I mean, can you imagine? That would be like our kids ministry saying we don't need any more help.

We already have all the candy we need for next year's trail of treats. We couldn't possibly use another volunteer in our nursery. It'd be like our worship ministry saying no more. We already have more musicians and more production volunteers than we know what to do with. It'd be like our student ministry saying we have so many adults wanting to pour into students lives that we won't ever need to recruit another base camp leader.

That would be like our finance team telling me, matt, please ask our church to stop giving. We've already fully funded this year's and next year's budgets. We've resourced every missionary we know of. We've granted every operation care request, we've adopted every local family in need of help with Christmas. We've completely paid off our mortgage.

We've addressed every maintenance issue on our facility. We couldn't possibly use even one more dollar, said no church leader ever. This never happened. I've been in ministry for 34 years and in my experience, even in churches like this one, with lots of generous servant hearted people, ministry needs always tend to outpace the available resources. Our giving is God's strategy for funding the work of ministry.

Now, the tabernacle project was a lot like the capital campaigns that our church launched. For example, to relocate from a facility in Old Town to this campus in 2000. I joined our staff team right in the midst of that transition. It's a lot like the capital campaign that we undertook to add our offices and our gym and our student center and additional classroom space in 2002, or the the campaign that built this worship center and renovated what we now refer to as the Commons back in 2009. And in each of those initiatives, we as a church gave sacrificially to build facilities that we as a church continue to use.

But there are other scenarios in Scripture where people gave generously in a completely externally focused way. So let's shift gears for a minute and let's look at one of those. Case study number two is all about a famine in first century Judea. In the early years of the church, a severe famine in Judea, which is the southern part of Israel, left the Christians there poor and hungry. So as the Apostle Paul traveled and he preached, he told other churches around the Mediterranean Rim about the need in Judea, and he challenged them to give generously to help their brothers and sisters there.

When the church in Corinth heard this news, they immediately expressed a desire to help, and they immediately began gathering resources. But somewhere along the way, for reasons the scripture doesn't specify, those good intentions somehow stalled. Meanwhile, the Christians in Macedonia. Here's a map of the whole Mediterranean rim. You can see Corinth where Paul wrote the letter that we call first and Second Corinthians.

The region of Macedonia over here, Judea, would be way down here off the corner of the map. So as Paul is traveling around, he's informing a number of different churches. But the Christians in Macedonia, who were very poor, responded to Paul's appeal in a response just a surprisingly, in a remarkably generous way. And Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church about what the Macedonian church was doing. Paul said, and now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial.

Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. And they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God, also to us.

The Macedonians were so poor that Paul might easily have said, I applaud your good intentions, guys, but you barely have two pennies to Rub together. Why don't you sit this one out and leave it to others with more money? But the Macedonians insisted on helping because of principle number three, which is this giving is more about willingness than it is about wealth. Generosity does not start with having money. It starts with having the desire to help.

If generosity started with having money, then wealthy people would always be generous people, and that's simply not the case. The Macedonian churches gave not because they were flush with cash, but because they knew that others were hurting and they compassionately decided to tighten their belts, make personal sacrifices, and share. The Macedonians giving followed this pattern. We could say overflow in joy plus extreme poverty somehow equals rich generosity. Now, mathematically, that doesn't compute, does it?

But Paul's point was, when we give ourselves completely to God, when we are fully surrendered to him, when we are full of joy about what God is doing in our lives, we become willing to share what we have, even if that isn't a lot. And many small gifts can unleash an avalanche of generosity. I've shared with you before how In September of 2021, my friend Valerie Stewart invited some friends, including Allison and me, to her home. Valerie just knew that there are a lot of people in our community who struggle financially and who need to know that God sees them and loves them. So Valerie called us together and she just suggested, what if each month, what if we each bring a hundred bucks or whatever we can afford and we pool our resources and we prayerfully select someone from our collective personal network to bless with a financial gift.

And the Hundred Dollar Club has met every month since. We've now had 50 meetings and it's grown to include dozens of people. And in just over four years, the Hundred Dollar Club has given away $114,184.

I mean, all glory for that goes to God. That's a lot of money. But what I want you to hear, what I want you to see is this. It averages out to about 22 households giving $100 a month. That's about the cost of one sit down restaurant meal.

I mean, even small gifts, when we give them with discipline, consistently can have big cumulative impact. When we faithfully give whatever we're able to give, those gifts add up and they make a substantial difference, a much more substantial difference than any of us would ever be able to pull off on our own. See, Paul used the Macedonian's example to challenge the Corinthians to follow through on their initial good intentions to help their brothers and sisters in Judea. Paul went on to write to the Corinthians this. He said, but since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we have kindled in you, see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

Paul called giving a grace, an expression of God's kindness that Jesus followers should work to get better and better and better at. In other words, principle number four, giving takes practice. We get this in any other area. I mean, the way you get better at math, the way you get better at hitting a baseball or a golf ball, the way you get better at spelling or distance running or target shooting is, is to do it again and again and again. And giving is no different.

Giving involves making a decision, choosing an amount, and then following through. And the way we learn to excel in this grace of giving is by giving again and again and again. It takes practice. Paul went on in Second Corinthians to say this. I am not commanding you, but I wanna test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

Paul encouraged giving. He challenged them to give. He urged them to give. But he didn't demand it because of principle number five, which is that giving is a choice to love. Now, some people might use a statement like that in a really manipulative, guilt, trippy kind of way, but it's really true that the sincerity of our love for others shows up in our willingness to share with them.

If we refuse to share what we have, our words about love sound a little empty. And the gold standard of that truth is the story of Jesus. Paul went on to say this, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. The essence of the gospel, the heart of the good news of Jesus, is that he left the comfort and the privilege of heaven voluntarily. He put on flesh, he subjected himself to pain and mortality, and.

And he died so that we might have life. He showed the depth of his love by sacrificing himself for us. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What Jesus endured for us at the cross is God's greatest and most generous gift. Well, from there, Paul went on to write these words.

He said, remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to Give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

There have been two times in the 33 years that Alison and I have been married that we have moved into a new home where. Where at least a portion of the yard had no grass yet. How many of you have ever moved into a home with a yard that kind of looked like that when you got there? Yeah. So we planted grass seed, and because we wanted to have a thick lawn that would be fun for our kids to walk around in, I scattered a lot of seed, and I did a lot of watering.

Now, that cost time, and it cost effort, and it costs money. It costs more money to plant a lot of seed than to plant a little bit of seed, and it costs money to water that seed. But I did it because I knew the kind of lawn that I wanted to have. See, Paul's metaphor about sowing and reaping illustrates principle number six, which is that giving is an investment in God's kingdom. Think about this.

We give to a vision of the kind of compassionate impact we want to have. We give to a vision of the excellent church we want to be. Our giving is an investment in sharing the Gospel, equipping disciples, supporting global ministry, loving our neighbors, serving our community, maintaining our facility, and providing for our staff. And when we care about these objectives, when these goals are near and dear to our hearts, giving to make them a reality is actually a joyful thing. The.

The word that Paul used when he said God loves a cheerful giver is actually the root word of our English word. Hilarious. Are you invested enough in ministry that you can give with a smile? Can you laugh when you make that online payment or when you write that check? Is that a source of joy to you?

See, one hurdle that we have to get over in order to become cheerful givers is, is the fear of not having enough. I'm convinced that in most churches, there are many of us who like the idea of generosity. We're just afraid to act on it. I mean, I'd like to give more, but the cost of living just keeps going up. It does.

I want to help others in need, but I have my own bills to pay. If I give, how can I be sure I won't run out of money? And could I say those are natural thoughts to have? Anybody with a brain or an ounce of financial sense is gonna think some of those thoughts, and we're not the first to think those thoughts. I suspect that the Corinthians wrestled with the very same ideas, and that's why Paul assured them these Powerful words.

Paul said, God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, not everything you want, but all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. See, God provides us the means to do everything that he wants us to do.

He provides us all the resources we need to accomplish his mission. He doesn't just command us to give, he also equips us to give. Now think about this. God has all resources at his disposal. God could accomplish or all of his work without us.

Have you ever thought about that? God could accomplish everything he wants done without ever asking us to do anything. But he wants us to learn to trust Him. He wants us to learn to reflect his loving and gracious and generous heart. So he has orchestrated a kingdom economy in which he faithfully provides so that we can consistently give.

And as we practice generosity, we invite God to replenish our resources so that we can give again and invite God to replenish our resources again. And this cycle continues over and over and over again. It really all comes down to this seventh and final principle, which is that giving is about trusting God to provide. Throughout history, God has provided for his people so that they can fund ministry. And that's something I can testify to not just because of Bible stories, but on the basis of personal experience.

Could I brag on God for just a minute? Alison and I committed years ago to honoring God with our income. And we have tried over the years to keep stretching our capacity to give. And God has faithfully enables us. He's enabled us to do that.

I had this experience about three years ago as I was compiling our tax information. I made the discovery that in that particular year we had given away more than I had earned annually in my first two youth ministry positions. Now my only brag and sharing that with you is on God. He has continued to provide for us. Obviously, Allison's income as a massage therapist is significantly different than her income as a stay at home mom was when our kids were young.

So there are some factors that have changed in there. But it was a remarkable thing to me that while we try to be generous people, and we're still working at that, God is a remarkably faithful and generous provider. And as we trust him by giving. And as we continue to try to stretch ourselves in that area, he continues to provide for our needs. When you and I want to be generous, that is what God wants for us.

And I believe he delights in making it possible for us to to live out those desires. At the end of the day, our giving is God's strategy for funding the work of ministry. God's kingdom has always been about crowdfunding. What he blesses us with, he intends for us to share. Jesus himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

And he backed that up by giving his life. Which means that there is no way to follow and become more like Jesus without giving being a part of that. This message series is really not about fundraising. It's really about discipleship. It's about challenging each of us to surrender everything we have, which includes our finances, to Jesus to obey his instructions about giving and trust him to provide.

So as we close today, there are two specific challenges I want to toss out to you. Challenge number one is this. If you have never given before, I don't know, there are lots of different reasons that might be the case. But if you have never given before, if you've never personally financially invested in the work of ministry, could I challenge you to start? Just to ask, what could you give?

I know that for some of us, fifteen fifty dollars a month might be a huge stretch. I know there are others of us who could give a thousand bucks a week without breaking a sweat. The amount is between you and God. But I want to challenge all of us to give and to trust as we give that God will replenish those resources and be true to his word. Now, this happens to be a great time to start giving because we have a couple of, every year, a couple of special generosity projects around this time in the calendar.

Adrian already mentioned our Operation Christmas, and we still need a few more sponsors to reach our goal of adopting 100 local families through Operation Christmas. We also have a 2025 Christmas offering, which we'll say more about starting next week, where we're going to focus on building a medical clinic in partnership with two of our ministry partners in Ghana, West Africa. Jon Veach and I spent some time there this past July, and we'll tell you more about that over the next few weeks. But you can learn about all facets of giving to GCC at our website or through our mobile app. So if you've never given before, I want to challenge you to test God and His faithfulness in that and to make a Commitment to give something.

Here's my second challenge. Okay. If you're already one of our regular giving partners, I want to say two things. I want to say thank you. Because everything that we experience and do as a church is funded by what's already being given.

We. But I also want to couple that word of thanks with an honest question. Are you giving your best? Is your giving proportionate to the resources God is providing you? When God provides you a raise or a bonus, does your giving reflect that?

Are you giving at a level that requires you to sacrifice anything? Are you striving to excel in this grace of giving, not just to keep pace with what you've done in the past, but to excel in this grace of giving? Are you stretching your giving capacity? Our generosity is important. It reflects the heart of Jesus.

It blesses others in a lot of tangible ways. It demonstrates our trust in God, and it draws others to him through the impact that our ministries have on their lives. And as we partner together by giving, ministry gets funded. And we invite God to continue to provide our giving. Yours and mine.

Is God's strategy for funding the work of ministry. Will you invest in that work with us? Would you pray with me, Father? God, we are grateful this morning for so many blessings that we are so accustomed to that we. We often don't even stop to notice them.

You woke us up this morning, Father. We have clothes on our backs. We're gathered here in a really well equipped facility with temperature control. We slept in beds last night with roofs over our heads. We drove in vehicles to get here.

Many of us have jobs to go to tomorrow. We have money in the bank. We have food in our refrigerators.

You provide for us so richly, God, I just ask that you would help us to regularly recognize that everything that we have and think of as our own, everything that we think of as ours or the. The fruit of our labor, is ultimately your blessing. And I pray that you would help us, God, to. To enjoy it gratefully, but also to recognize that you give to us not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of those that we share with. I'm thankful, God, for great things that are being done right here in this facility this morning.

Impact that's being had every week here in our community, impact that's being felt around the world because of the giving of this church. I'm so grateful, God, to be a part of that. And we ask God, that you would help us not to be complacent about what we've given in the past. Help us to continue to stretch ourselves to excel in this grace of giving so that the name of Jesus could be heard, so that the story of Jesus could be told. So that more and more and more people all around the world would have every opportunity to see and hear and respond to that message.

God, we thank you for your amazing generosity to us in choosing to put on flesh and suffer and die in our place. And we ask that you would help us to follow, to imitate the character of Jesus in the way that we give. We ask all these things in in Jesus name. Amen. You know, every time we come together, there's an opportunity we want to extend to take a Next Step.

I'm going to invite our Next Steps team to go ahead and come on up to the stage here. A couple of different things we want you to know about. We are starting today our November cycle of our new Next Steps classes. Our first installment, Next Steps Discover, happens at 11am in room 502, which will be right out to your right in the commons. You if you're new to our church or just want to know more about what we're about, we'd love for you to stick around and be a part of that process.

So we want you to know about the Next Steps classes. You can at any time just text the word next to the number you see on your screen. 317-707-9997. We would love to hear from you. We'd love to be able to talk with you and help you discern what God is calling you to do next.

And we would invite you at any time after our services just to come down here to the front where there will be several of us, myself included, who would love to meet you. We'd love to pray with you. If we can answer questions or help to direct you toward a greater level of connection here. We would love to do that. It's always my joy, my privilege to get to be here with you on Sunday mornings.

Thank you for joining us today. Let's make this week a week of Kingdom Impact with every blessing God gives us. God bless you.