We Contribute Generously and Sacrificially to the Mission of God

and for the rest of us if you could open up to Acts chapter 2 we're going to bounce around just a little bit but Acts chapter 2 is where we'll be starting out and uh I I lost my voice Friday Saturday and so hoping that it revives through the end of this but um you can pray for that but let's pray together as we open up God we just thank you again so much for your truth that you provide to us in your word it's the way that you communicate to us it's the way that you conform us to the image of your son it's

the way that you teach us and then call us to observe all that youve commanded us um it's the way that we are able to see ourselves rightly by seeing you and who you are and who you've revealed yourself to be through your word and so God I just pray that this moment would be another moment that as we've been walking through this Vision series for the last six weeks um that we're continuing to see in the scripture ures how you ordered and structured a church to be effective and efficient with the advancement of the Gospel um to execute the mission of God to go

and take the good news of Jesus and communicate it to those around us so that they can be aware of their sin and also be able to know that there is forgiveness for that sin through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and so we we again just thank you so much for what you have done for us and we pray in this time now that your Holy Spirit would just continue to guide us and help us understand what it is that you have for us this morning it's in your name we pray amen all right so as I kind of mentioned there in

the prayer we are concluding the vision Series today the um building the future by rediscovering the past and we are going to continue looking into the past to see what this final value is uh we kind of started off with the mission and vision of God for the first couple of weeks and then shifted that into what we value as a church um and and because really what we value as a church is where the rubber meets the road it's it's what we are cultivating it's what we're actually doing and giving our lives over to that then execute the mission and vision and so it's

always good to have a mission and vision but if we are not cutting the stones that begin actually building and constructing the cathedral if we don't do that work then it actually never gets built and so that's what we were looking at over the last again three weeks with today being the fourth is the idea that we worship through prayer and God's word number two was that we belong to an authentic and diverse Community three is that we serve with humility and helpfulness and we've distilled these from acts 242 through 47 that is a description of the first church and so I want to read

from for you acts 2: 42-47 so that again you're just driving kind of that point home of like this is what that church was characterized by while also being able to see within it where we get the fourth um the fourth value for our church and so starting in verse 42 says this they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and Many Wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and they had all things in common and they were selling their possessions

and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous Hearts praising God and having favor with all the people and the the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved so verse 45 is where we distill the characteristics and culture of our fourth value which is contributing generously and sacrificially to the mission of God similar to last week I want to break down the value um so that you can see providing biblical evidence why this is specifically

one of our main values um that we want to continue cultivating amongst our church and I want to break it down by by first starting off with the idea that we contribute generously to the mission of God what does it mean to contribute what does it mean to contribute generously and and what are we referring to when we say the mission of God now we've talked at length over the past few weeks about what the mission of God is and so I I don't want to recap that because it's literally just the past five sermons and so today's sermon is no different but today's sermon

is or does help help us grow in our understanding of another part of our responsibility when it comes to the mission of God we've talked about again your responsibility in the word of God In Prayer we've talked about your responsibility in belonging to the community of God the church we've talked about your responsibility in serving God and serving others and today is talking about your responsibility in supplying or in the supplying of resources and meeting needs within the church church as she executes the mission of God in the world so we're going to be talking about that idea and so I want to focus our

attention on on what we mean by contributing generously and sacrificially to the mission of God to the the making of Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the Father the Son the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded us now with regards to generosity or the practice of it as a preface the Bible tells us that joyful people tend to be generous people so just out of the gate joyful people tend to be generous people and I and so I want to show you this this is 2 Corinthians 9 so if you can go ahead and turn over to 2 Corinthians

um we're going to be bouncing back and forth between 2 Corinthians 8 and N because both chapters are actually chapters that talk about the idea of taking up a elction contributing it to the church advancing the gospel with literally like money and resources and and what that actually means so that we can pull that into our own context as well as not something that's just contextual but something that is Christian and so that's why I want to show you these things but starting off with 2 Corinthians 9 looking at verses 6 through eight the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church he says this the point

is this whoever SWS sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever SWS bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work and so the ability just based off this the ability to abound in every good work Paul says is supplied by the cheerful Giver who SWS bountifully like we've got to have that as a connecting piece and trusting the holy spirit

that resides in the individual believer they should decide what they're going to give out of the freedom of their heart and not under obligation not under compulsion and so this in in an article I read the context um of Paul writing this letter to the Corinthians about cheerful giving is actually sort of um paradoxical it's honestly an awkward situation for Paul to be writing about contribution in giving when it comes to the Corinthians um because they were not necessarily on good terms and Paul essentially spends two chapters again 39 verses convincing the Corinthians to give generously sacrificially while at the same time they are skeptical

of contributing anything to the Apostle Paul the the new international Greek Testament commentary describes the Corinthians view of Paul basically if you look at what Paul has to write and defend to them in his letters you can then deduce from his point of view what the Corinthians actually believed about Paul so here's how the Corinthians viewed Paul he had and this is quote from the the commentary he had always obstinately refused to accept money from the Corinthians which was an insult indicating that he lacked genuine love for them and he was a counterfeit Apostle yet he exploited the willingness of the Corinthian Church to support

him by having his agents organize a collection ostensibly for Jerusalem but at least in part for himself in so doing he had unscrupulously taken advantage of the Corinthians and wronged them so all of those you can deduced from actually just walking through both first and second Corinthians to see what their view was of the Apostle Paul and what he defends of himself when he's writing these letters to them a separate article gave several examples for their hesitancy the Corinthian Church had been infiltrated by those undermining Paul's Ministry they were criticizing him for wavering on his prior plans to visit them some challenged him on his

own references and qualifications and they even questioned his refusal to receive support in the past and now wondered whether he might be skimming off the top of his so-called collection and so in other words Paul is asking a congregation to be cheerfully en joyfully generous with their contributions when they seemingly have very little confidence in him his ministry and Leadership of the church but nonetheless Paul understands this to not be merely a byproduct of Christianity but the expressed embodiment of what it means to be Christian he he anchors the principle of giving as one of the most visible and tangible acts of Christianity because it

is grounded in the gospel that we give of ourselves so That Others May Live regardless of how they viewed him Paul must instruct them to live the way of the New Kingdom which was marked by joyful generosity as Elliot Clark States in an article titled let's rethink how we motivate people to give he says Paul writing to the Corinthians teaches that God Delights in those who give gladly he isn't pleased if we do so grudgingly Christian offerings aren't meant to be a tax levied on citizens of the Kingdom they're meant to be the Overflow of gratitude for God's grace to us in his son who

became poor that we might become rich and I'll explain more of that here in a moment but Elliot goes on to say Paul supplies us with um with more than just one reason to give he urges the Corinthians and us toward glad-hearted generosity by imploring multiple motivations in other words if glad-hearted and a joyful Spirit are what fuel generosity that is pleasing to God then then how do we cultivate glad and joyful hearts in relation to generosity the giving of money to further the mission of God in our lives in others in the Nations and so first Paul speaks of the generosity of other churches

so he starts pulling in some examples he starts pulling in some some other models that he has witnessed and that he has experienced from other churches that have matured in the gospel and their relationship with Jesus and seeing the Overflow of their relationship with Jesus how they operated kind of what was their mood what was their Vibe what was their culture like when it comes to this specific idea of giving and contributing to the mission of God and so I want to back you up to really where Paul actually starts off with this this charge to the Corinthians to take up a collection and to

start giving it's second Corinthians 8 we're going to look at verses 1 through five so he gives them this model it's an example and what you'll be surprised by um is it's not from a place of of overflow or an abundance of resources I think lots of times we think like you know there are those who have the gift of giving because maybe they've been blessed with a lot um but but Paul doesn't go there he doesn't say look at the wealthy and look at those who have lots of resources and look how they give and they give so much um but rather here he

uses an example of someone who a group of churches that really can't afford to give but I want you to see this second Corinthians 8 1-5 we want you to know Brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia for in a severe test of Affliction their Abundance of Joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the Saints and this not as

we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us so a few points here that help disciple Us in the way of Jesus I'll call it the Macedonian mood what was the mood like what was their culture like and to give some context to their circumstances the macedonians which were the churches in Philippi thessaly um and Berea they were in a severe test of affliction verse two tells us which just meant that they were being highly persecuted for their faith and so whether that's being beaten whether that's being robbed whether that's being um taken like having

people come in and plunder their houses and their resources I mean it was a severe test of persecution of Affliction that they were experiencing that in that is accompanied by a season of Extreme poverty and I would imagine both of those two things are correlated if they're explain or if they're experiencing deep perseverance that is both verbal and physical and maybe political and social as well um they might not even have the ability to be able to work at the same time if it's physical and they're hurting and not able to work and farm and toil for labor again it whatever is going on with

them it has given way to a place of extreme poverty that they're experiencing but though the macedonians were in great need themselves they found it better and more joyful to give than to receive and I always found this interesting because essentially what I find fascinating is that the collection of money was to Aid the poor among God's people in Jerusalem so I I if you go back and you start tracing this collection which is Paul going to multiple regions to take up a large collection in order to get it back to Jerusalem for the relief of the Saints there um because there was again extreme

poverty and extreme um conflict going on in Jerusalem as well for the church it's interesting here that it's essentially the the same thing they're experiencing but yet they're begging for the opportunity to help those experiencing the same thing elsewhere it's the poor contributing to the poor in another area which leads me to believe the purpose for giving is not to Simply meet a need elsewhere but is to serve the joy you receive in the giving giving in the giving Acts 20:35 says in all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of

the Lord Jesus how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive and I think they're taking jesus' words so literally that they're like we though we have nothing we want to give because it's better for us it's more joyful for us we we receive more cheer in this to actually give rather than plead our case and say would you take up a collection for us would you provide for our needs as well and so though the macedonians were in great need themselves they found it better and more joyful to give than to receive even if that giving meant more than what

they could afford which really put you in the place of truly trusting in the sovereignty of God and the provision of God in your lives it it it shapes your prayer life in a different way and so I want to give you four characteristics deduced from these passages of the macedonians the churches that were there the first characteristic is that they were joyful and generous in their giving and so you see this in verse two for in a severe test of Affliction their Abundance of Joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed and a wealth of generosity on their part so regardless of their circumstances what

they were experiencing in the gift of the gospel and in the gift of Grace the free gift that they are receiving from the Lord Jesus that in that in them seeing his modotto and his example of giving of himself to the point of death on a cross has overflowed in their hearts and in their minds that as they decide in their heart what they are to do with the grace that they have received they're looking looking around at their means and they're saying let's give everything and then beyond that I don't even know what that means like how do you give beyond your means like

did they go in debt to the church in jerus like let's just whatever our future crops will be we're also going to give that to you but like they they went beyond their means to give so they were joyful and they were generous in their giving and the second thing is that they were sacrificial and voluntary in their giving verse three they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord of their own accord and so they didn't have to preach about giving every single week they didn't have to this was a in their abiding relationship with

Jesus and them experiencing the gift of Grace that he constantly lavished over them and in them and as they are reading the scripture and and searching the scriptures to be able to see God and what he has always done for his people all they are seeing is this incredible generosity of a father who is Sovereign making provision for his people in again severe moments of Affliction in severe moments of drought in severe moments of being in the desert with no resources a man is just falling from heaven like everywhere they turn they see the contribution of God in his generosity towards us and in that

of their own accord they've come to the conclusion if we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus then we are to be like the father we are to be like God and we are to be contributors we are to be generous in our contributions even if it is beyond our means the third thing was is that unexpected to Paul they initiated their giving begging us verse four begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the Saints and this not as we expected so which gives us some reason to believe that Paul going around to the churches to actually

start taking up collections for the relief of the Saints in Jerusalem probably didn't think about going to Macedonia he probably was thinking man like Phil like Philippi and thessalonica and Berea man they they are just they are really struggling right now so I'm not going to put any more burden on them I'm not even going to ask them to take up the collection but I'm going to go to the port cities I'm going to go to Corinth I'm going to go to Antioch I'm going to go to these other places and I'm gonna I'm G to ask Rome I'm going to ask them to take

up a collection I'm going to ask these places to give because I know they have means to be able to do it and so kind of implicit to this passage right here without him asking the macedonians they're coming to him saying will you please include us in the collection of the relief of the Saints because we do not want to be robbed of the opportunity to experience the joy that we receive in giving to them like they're begging for it they're like it's greater for us to participate in that than to wait for us to get out of a severe test of Affliction to get

out of our own extreme poverty or for you to even maybe go and ask someone else to be able to contribute to us we don't want that what we want rather is to participate in contributing to the relief of the Saints contributing to the mission of God and I'll give you even a more specific example here in a moment of what they were able to do but the fourth one is they recognized their giving was an an act of Devotion to Christ and his church they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us so they're seeing this as

we are to devote ourselves first and foremost to the Lord and then through their Devotion to the Lord they've deduced from that they've they've understood that it also translates by the will of God for them to devote themselves to the apostles and to the relief of the Saints they to to to devote themselves to the mission of God via the ministry of the church and that's what they are recognizing as they give themselves to Christ and to his church and verse three is what lends us to believe that the early Christians not only contributed generously but they did so sacrificially as they gave beyond their

means of Their Own Accord now what did they contribute to these macedonians well again as I mentioned they they gave to the relief of the Saints in Jerusalem where we actually see that in Romans and I'll show you that here in a moment but beyond even just that contribution they also initiated other avenues other ways to be able to be generous even within their own region to one another and so I want to show you this turn over with me to Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chap 4: 15- 20 this is a passage that talks about them giving to their own region for the planting of

more churches starting in verse 15 so again Paul is writing this letter to the Philippians which is within the church or within the city of Philippi churches that are there within the area of Macedonia again in Macedonia there's also thessalonica um where they where Paul goes in to plant churches and so I want you to see the relation of what happens here Paul says to the Philippians you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel when I left Macedonia no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only I just love that I mean like he's saying like when

I went in to continue planting more churches nobody was on board except for you even in thessalonica another city that is within Macedonia you sent me help for my needs once and again not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit I have received full payment and more I am well supplied I love I have received full payment and more I mean their culture was let's give according to our means and Beyond beyond our means and then if he did at that moment when he was going to plant the church in thessalonica by way of Philippi and it

talking to them about the effort that he's going to be doing over there they're saying hey your budget is a little skimp like we think you're going to need more than what you actually think you need and so he says Not only was Paul supplied based on what he thought he needed but he was supplied with even more because they gave him above and beyond that I am well supplied having received from epicodus the gifts you sent a fragrant offerings a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God and I love this my God Will Supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in

Christ Jesus to our God and Father be glory forever and amen so he's saying as as you guys essentially empty your El just know that in your joyful generosity that is sacrificial God is also going to continue supplying you and meeting every need that you have through his sovereignty in his provision which means that as they continue to even give and be more generous in their giving and contributing God is still following that up and meeting their needs and it's it almost in some way sounds like they're thinking you know what let's have a little bit of a competition with God like let's let's just

contribute let's give let's put God to the test let's give and I'm sounding Prosperity right now but let's give all that we have and watch God match what we give but at the end of the day this is what he's talking about we are agents of God's reconciliation Ministry we are a like we are when we say we're that the hands and feet of Jesus that is what is like that is who we are as the Church of Jesus Christ we are the body of Christ that are looking out at the needs that are around us and we are forming mission and vision to be

able to meet those needs and that takes resources in order to be able to do that and this is exactly what we are doing so so when we we're when we pray for God to provide we're not necessarily looking at how he dropped Mana from heaven and just saying hey if you just pray guess what happens the bank account just goes up no like like that doesn't work that way anymore now is it possible sure he did it with the Five Loaves and two fish he could do it but what is more joyful is when he engages a child of God a discip deciple of

Jesus Christ and says I'm going to do the Five Loaves and two fishes through you I want you to experience the joy he could just step in and just make it happen but then we don't get to experience as the macedonians did the joy of giving of giving because in that regard if he were just dropping it in the bank account then we're just receiving we're just receiving but rather he employs a different way by calling us to be viceo calling us to be agents of reconciliation calling us to be Disciples of Jesus who contribute of ourselves and this is why we contribute generously and

sacrificially to the mission of God but it can't be reluctantly or under compulsion as 2 Corinthians 9:7 tells us our joyful generous and sacrificial giving must be because we treasure Jesus more than we treasure treasure like that's where it starts that's where it starts do we treasure Jesus more than we treasure treasure where your treasure is there your heart will be also if Jesus is our treasure our heart is for whatever Jesus is about so when Jesus says go and make disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father Son and Holy Spirit we're thinking how do we do that how do

we Supply that how do we Source it how do we engage it ourselves because that's what Jesus is doing we want to be all about what Jesus is doing and so we want to engage it and Paul now is requesting the Corinthians to contribute to the great relief of the Saints in Jerusalem and the poor among God's people there and later Paul request EST that the Romans also help him with the advancement of the Gospel to Spain and the planting of churches there turning his attention back to the Corinthians he's entreating them to be like Jesus and give of their means to the collection for

the church now this letter of second Corinthians is just that it's a letter it's a letter that he's writing to this church and so just by looking at it doesn't necessarily tell us well did they did they do it did they contribute to the collection did they did they change their mindset from their um from being skeptical over Paul and his ministry or did they have a course correction did they have a rebuke did they have a training in righteousness and godliness because they're experiencing the grace of God did they turn their heart from their own way of living life and living it lavishly I

mean Corinth Corinth was Corinth by definition just means carnal which means they thought it was better to receive than to give and so he's entreating them to to shift that cultural mindset and so the question is is it possible is the gospel powerful enough to change someone's mindset that on what it means to be generous to the mission of God well I want you to see this in second Corinthians 9:2 Paul refers to the Corinthian Church as those from AA so where like Phil the Philippians and and Thessalonians and the bereans are all from the Macedonian area so they're just called the churches of Macedonia

this would be the churches of AA and Corinth falls under that category and that's important important to know because after he wrote this letter later on Paul is writing the letter to the Romans on his way to Rome to help them with the advancement again he he wants to get to Rome in order by way of them taking up a collection in Rome to then go and plant more churches in Spain now we know historically he never gets to Spain because they kill him in Rome but as he's writing this letter to Rome and he's coming with this imp employing to the Romans a model

and example for taking up a collection this is what he tells them in Romans 15 23-29 but now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions and since I have longed for many years to come to you I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while while so that's his way of saying help me I'm going to come I'm going to spend some time with you I'm going to hang out with you but take up collection help me out in

order to help me get to Spain to continue furthering the gospel at present however I am going to Jerusalem bringing Aid to the Saints that's the collection and verse 26 right here for Macedonia and AA have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem for they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings when therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected I will leave for Spain

by way of you I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ good job Corinthians like they did it like they're they're they had a change of heart and a change of of where their treasure was to where now when Paul's going to another region he's able to use the Corinthians as a model as an example as from AA that they were not only um again when he's first writing the letter you got to know that they're great grudgingly maybe and little under compulsion um if we give it's not because we want to but it's

because you're exercising your right as an apostle and so we'll do it because we want to cover all of our bases that would have been their mentality until receiving the truth from Paul and him defending his apostleship and his references him defending the gospel and him defending ultimately the fact that he came in and told them that this is this is the truth this is where we're at and they had a change of heart and it says not only did they give but it pleased them to give so now they're experiencing Joy they are cheerful givers and the way I want to close it out

is 2 Corinthians 5:21 looking at another cheerful Giver is Jesus I mean Jesus is a cheerful Giver we know that for the joy set before him he endured the cross I mean you talk about giving of your all you know I mean it's you know back in um my sport days and playing football the coaches go out you leave everything on the field like 100% it's like does that mean like I die on the field like that would be giving a 100% of my life to this Sports um but that's not true like it's just you can't like maybe 20 30% because you just lose

energy but the reality is is that we don't give up all of ourselves like Jesus did Jesus gave all of himself not just his physical body in order to replace our physical bodies for the removal of our sins and the death that we deserve for that but he also gave us all of the resource of his righteousness so when when you talk about God being holy and Jesus saying you know what um the only way that you can be in a relationship with God is if you are like him in his Holiness which means you cannot be in relationship with him if there's uh one

iota of sin if there's one ounce of sin if there's one bad deed if there's one carnal thought if there's one act of evil you cannot be in a relationship with with God and so then Jesus even tells us in the The Sermon on the Mount uh be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect because that's the only way you can be in relationship with someone who's perfect is you also have to be perfect and so looking at that we're thinking um okay well now I feel like I'm in a severe test of Affliction and extreme poverty because I don't have that I don't have

Perfection I don't have Holiness I don't have righteousness and so my sin has put me in a place of severe Affliction and extreme poverty that I don't see an end I don't see a way out and so Jesus giving of himself and the father giving of his son for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life he gave his son Jesus and then Jesus gave his own Life as a joy because he knew what it was going to accomplish in us that he was going to remove our unrighteousness and then

lavish us with his righteousness which guess what makes us holy makes us perfect makes us able to be in a relationship with the Father which is why second Corinthians 5:21 says for our sake those who were in a severe test of Affliction and those who are experiencing extreme poverty for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so Jesus never experienced a severe test of Affliction he never experienced extreme poverty he's at the right hand of the father who created everything who owns everything who's Sovereign over everything who everything was created by Him through him and for him everything is his

and though he was rich as 2 Corinthians 88:9 tells us for our sake he became poor he gave according to his means he gave all of his righteousness he gave all of his position he gave his relationship with his father so that we could have the exact same relationship with the father for our sake he made him who he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God and when you experience that great exchange when you experience that you've gone from extreme poverty and sin to extreme wealth and righteousness and the inheritance of of

what we receive in glory when we get to heaven and we get to spend eternity with God and enjoy all of his new creation of the heavens and the earth when we experience those two paradoxes and how he got us from this one to that one as Colossians 1 says this he transferred us from the domain of Darkness to the kingdom of the Beloved son that does not say we helped him transfer us from the domain of Darkness to the kingdom of the beloved Son it does not say that we came to him with our contributions of hey I I know that I've sinned but

I've done some good things and so if you just kind of balance those on a scale a little bit I think I've done more good than bad and so will you allow me in the door like will you help me get from this domain to that Kingdom and every single time God's going to say your good stuff is just filthy rags your your good stuff is marred and it's it's messy it's it's like yesterday morning I asked my boys to clean up downstairs and somehow I ended up having to clean up more than what was already down there because in trying to take um now

again bless his heart good intentions he was trying to take the chocolate milk to the sink but it didn't make it there it absorbed into the rug that was on the floor and so that's how we clean our elves up but Jesus comes in and he cleans us up by taking all of that and it's a complete renovation where he puts it to death and he says we're going to throw off that old self and I'm going to Grant you a new self a new person and not only when I raise you to life and a new person and a new heart that is within

you again a new heart that reflects what Jesus cares about and what Jesus is all about and what Jesus is building on this Earth Earth that heart is going to have desires and affections for that not only does he do that but he says I'm also going to and this is where the the end of the Great Commission I'm going to be with you always he says I'm going to come I'm going to live in you in you and so like if you've seen those like ideas of like the futuristic robots where like we're like this like tiny little person inside and we're like you

know driving it and there's all the other like actual big robot Avatar kind of type stuff if you've seen like that's what Jesus spiritually is doing in our lives and you're like what Galatians 2:20 okay I just want you to see this I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me so when we have been crucified with Christ it says it is no longer I who live which can we

just be honest for a second is total freedom it's total freedom it is no longer me who has to determine what my future is going to look like it is no longer me who has to determine what the success of my career is going to be it is no longer me who has to determine what my family Dynamic is going to be it's no longer me who has to determine whether or not I it's fill in the blank I know longer live but Christ lives in me he lives in me and one of the ways I I heard a sermon one time on Galatians 2:20

and the way they said that that kind of the way that works itself out is there was a glove analogy and I should have did it but whatever there was a glove that was placed on um on a table and essentially it was like the glove was just sitting there but the glove has function it has ability it like it can do some things but it's like can we get this glove to pick up this book and so it was like how do we get the glove to pick up the book well let's teach the glove let's tell it to pick up the book and

so glove will you pick up the book and it's like no well there's parts of Christianity there's parts of church life where we're like trying to teach people how to do something but they might not be able to do it it's like okay well the glove's dirty so let's clean it first so we like wash it off and clean it up and then it's like okay now glove pick up the book and it's like it's not going to do it merely by just cleaning up its act and so if we're like well let's get our finances in order let's get our house in order let's

get you know our careers in order let's make air let's get all the ducks in a row and then then we're ready for Jesus it's like no that's not going to work either and so it's like okay well maybe it just didn't hear you and so you need to discipline it a little bit and so you start pounding on the glove and you start beating it and you start saying you should pick up this book and it's like well now no it's frayed a little bit but it's not going to pick up the book it's just not going to do it and so the natural

question is is well how do you pick up the book what has to happen y'all can tell me tell me you got to put your hand in it and then you can kind of like spin it a little bit and you can like put your fist in it and then it's like well it's still kind of hard to pick up the book because it like phrase you got to have Christ formed in you Christ has to live in you in order to live the Christian Life in Mission and so that is what we are doing is we are teaching one another to observe all that

Christ has commanded us and the beauty in that is it's not us looking at Jesus and saying all right I got to figure out how to be Jesus he is living in US fueling us and supplying us with everything that we need to be able to establish and cultivate Christendom on Earth he's giving us all that we need because we have Christ already in us already in us and so when it comes to worship and when it comes to belonging and when it comes to serving and when it comes to giving we and this is why I think Paul Taps into that 2 Corinthians 8

where he says um or 2 Corinthians 9 decide in your heart decide in your heart so we're not going like make sure it's 10% of your gross versus your net and others are like well that's hard let me let me do 10% of my net and others are like well 10% is a tithe of the Old Testament and it's like well technically the Old Testament added to the tithe where it was more like 30 40% of your income when you look at the actual first um Century of Judaism and so it's like well okay don't talk about that we don't want 30 40 per. and

so at the end of the day he's saying it's not about what the percent is it's about where your heart is which is really asking the question what's Jesus calling you to what's Jesus calling you to because when it comes to prayer he's calling us to a deep level of prayer which is why everyone in this room will say I don't feel like I pray enough that's not a negative feeling it's not like well God is condemning me no that is a desire for more because Christ is in you everyone in this room right now is like I don't read the Bible enough that's not

negative that is Christ in you saying I want you to experience what God is communicating to you more more I want you to have more and I'm giving you more so your affections are changing it's just we've always believed in this mentality that like God is constantly like a like disciplining us and he does discipline those who whom he loves but it usually comes via the route of severe Affliction and testing and in it because of our abiding relationship with Jesus we actually experience the most Joy we've ever experienced in our lives that's why most of you when you look back on the difficult times

of your life when you've experienced what God has done in you you say I wouldn't change anything I wouldn't change anything and so I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me and when it comes to the mission and vision of the district church that's what we're asking for we're asking that each person in this room have that Mantra that I've have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live Christ lives in me he lives in me and because my heart is his heart and prayer and the word of God help tune those things together

it allows me to be able to see how I manage my life how I Steward my resources my relationships our money our income our our um neighborhoods our spheres of influence how do we get Jesus into those places well you're already there which means Jesus is already there and so it's engaging them it's saying I don't share the gospel enough that's a desire to share the gospel more so we stop beating ourselves up and we start living in the freedom of what he's called us to and the fact that he's living in us and through us for these things and so as we come to

our time of communion because I think I have like five minutes left as we come to our time of communion I want us to just just posture ourselves in looking at Jesus on the cross and which I have a weird thing with like the crucifix as far as Jesus still being on the cross because it's like he's not but we do want to start there I want you to Vision Jesus on the cross and then picture your life in the severe test of Affliction and the extreme Poverty of your sin and that he gave himself in order for us to give all of it to

him on the cross like all that shame and all of that guilt and all of that like punishment and all of those like we've just made a muck of Our Lives we're able to look at the cross and we're able to just hand it to him and we're able to say Jesus you take it and it was the joy set before you take our sin and to Die the death that we deserved in order for us to receive righteousness because it was not only a joy for him to take our sin but it was a joy for him to give us his righteousness which then

just reshapes all of our lives that now that we've received an abundance abundance everything that we need in his righteousness we are now able to give of ourselves everything that we have for his sake and not our own even though we receive joy in it we receive joy in it it's it's a it's a winwin it's a wiwin and so let's go and stand if you believe that Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago went to a cross and because of your sin he broke his body and he shed his blood and the wrath of God was poured out on him and it was satisfied which is

why he rose three days later if you believe that message then I invite you to come down and grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will partake together as a church