The Gift of Possessions
Use these materials to go deeper into this message on your own, or with your small group.
Series Overview
Sermon Questions
Good morning Chapel family. I want to congratulate everyone who’s being baptized today—we are so excited for you as you take this big step, and we look forward to walking alongside you as you continue to walk with Jesus. May God bless you richly on your baptism day.
So today we’re wrapping up our series called “Freely.” We’ve been saying every week that there are two ways you can go through life. You can live with a scarcity mentality—which means you feel like you never have enough of anything—time, money, energy, compassion. Everything is scarce. So when someone asks you to give some of your time or money or compassion or forgiveness, you feel threatened and you tighten your grip. Because can’t you see how little I have? Having a scarcity mentality is a great way to be miserable, especially during the holidays.
Thankfully, there’s another way: you can live with an abundance mentality. Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” He wasn’t talking about making us rich. He was talking about an awareness that God has blessed us so much more than we deserve. Our cup overflows. When you have that mentality, and someone asks you to give some of your time or energy or compassion, you have a “yes first” mindset, because you feel like you’re overflowing with God’s blessings.
So…are you walking into the Christmas season with a scarcity mentality or an abundance mentality?
For me, the concept that has made all the difference is something Jesus said in Matthew 10:8—Freely you have received; freely give. He was sending his disciples out to serve. And he was telling them, “I want you to take what you’ve gotten from me, and give it out the same way you received it: freely.” And he says the same thing to us. If we don’t grasp that concept, we will have a scarcity mentality. If we do grasp it, will have an abundance mentality.
That idea is transforming the way my family lives, which is why I wanted to share it with you in this series. So…we’ve talked about freely receiving and giving the gift of presence; we’ve talked about freely receiving and giving the gift of pardon; today let’s talk about freely receiving and giving The Gift of Possessions.
There is a famous letter that was written to the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD. It was written by a philosopher named Aristedes, and he was trying to explain to the Emperor what these new Christians were all about. Listen to what he said…
They love one another, and he who has gives to him who has not without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him into their home and rejoice over him as a very brother. And if there is among them any that are poor and needy, and they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food… [Listen to this…] Such, O king is their manner of life. And verily, this is a new people, and there is something divine in the midst of them.
Oh, I love that. That is an abundance mentality, and it’s one of the reasons the early church grew, in the midst of a hostile Roman empire. The world had never seen that kind of generosity. So…what would it look like for us to live this out today?
Let’s look at our main passage in 2 Corinthians 8. And let me give you a little background. The church that Paul was writing to was in the city of Corinth, which is in modern-day Greece. Back in Jerusalem, there was also a church. And the church in Jerusalem was struggling, because there was a famine in that area. So Paul, as he traveled from city to city, was raising money to help those struggling Christians in Jerusalem. And in this section of 2 Corinthians, he’s talking about how the people in Corinth should view this opportunity to give.
So—2 Corinthians 8, starting in verse 1. I invite you to hear God’s Word…
1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 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.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 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. This is the Word of the Lord.
So…here’s the secret to generosity—I’ll break it down into two parts.
First, Freely Receive God’s Generosity. Like everything we’ve talked about in this series, it doesn’t start with us; it starts with God. In verse 1, Paul says we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. So he’s writing to the Corinthians, and he’s inspiring them to give by pointing to the Christians in Macedonia as an example of generosity. But the first thing he mentions about them is not how much they gave, but how much has been given to them, by God. It always starts there.
The Greek word for “grace” is the word charis. And that word can also be translated…anybody know? “Gift.” Same exact word—gift, and grace. So when we talk about grace, it means the things we receive from God as gifts, without earning them. And Paul says, “I want you to know that the believers in Macedonia have received so much grace—so many gifts—from God, and they know it. They know they don’t deserve it. So before I tell you about their generosity, I need to tell you about the thing inside them that made them generous. It was grace.”
And then look at the very last verse in our passage—verse 9. If you want to memorize one verse about generosity, memorize this one: 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. There’s that word “grace” again. For you know the grace—the gift—of our Lord Jesus Christ—and here it is—here’s the gift he gave: even though he was rich—he lived in the splendor of heaven, being worshiped by the angels; he had everything! But for your sake he became poor—he gave all of that up to be born in a stable; he grew up in a backwoods town called Nazareth; no formal education; never owned a home; no wife; no kids. Poor in every way. And on the cross, he gave up the one thing he had left: his connection with his Father. He was rich, but he became poor. Why? So that you through his poverty might become rich. And again, no, it’s not talking about giving you a private jet. It’s talking
about something far more valuable: internal, eternal, spiritual peace. Is there anything more valuable than that?
Jesus gave up everything so we wouldn’t lack anything. That’s his grace—that’s his gift—to us. But in order to truly receive that, we have to acknowledge we need it. And it’s hard for us to view ourselves as being that spiritually needy. We sing, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. But how many of us truly think of ourselves as wretches? “Tell me a little about yourself.” “Well, first and foremost, I’m a wretch.” We like to think of ourselves as basically good people who just need a little help from God. And as long as we think that way, we’ll never grasp the awesomeness of God’s grace. We’ll never grab onto Christ the way I grabbed onto that float the lifeguard threw to me when I was drowning in the Atlantic Ocean a few years ago. In order to deeply appreciate the riches of God, you have to realize how poor you are.
Can I tell you something that will really remind you how spiritually needy you are? Relationships. Marriage, family, friendships. See, if you spend all your time alone, there’s no one there to remind you how messed up you are. But if you spend time with people, they will gladly point that out. One of the things I appreciate about my wife so much is that she doesn’t let me get away with being a hypocrite—saying one thing from this stage and then acting a different way toward her. Oh no—that won’t fly. So she’ll tell me, “You’re being selfish. That was really unkind of you to say that. You’re being a baby about this.” Oh yeah—she goes there. And I can either be defensive and go back at her. Or, if I’m smart, I can take it as a reminder that I desperately need God’s grace, every day. So let your relationships keep you humble and aware of your need for God.
I mentioned a few weeks ago: make personal confession part of the rhythm of your life. Don’t just pray, “Forgive us our trespasses;” stop and tell God what your trespasses have been, and receive his grace freshly every day. The more you do that, the more it really will be amazing grace. And it will change you deep inside. Because you’ll realize that everything you have is from God’s grace.
And by the way, that’s not just true of spiritual blessings; it’s true of material blessings. The reason you have a nice house and a couple of cars and take nice vacations (if you have those things) isn’t ultimately because you worked so hard. I mean, maybe you have worked hard, but back up a little bit. By God’s sovereignty, you were born in America and not in a slum in Mumbai. You didn’t work hard for that; it’s God’s grace. And isn’t it God who gave you opportunities, and a mind, and gifts, and maybe parents who sent you to college? Sure, you might have worked hard, but ultimately, everything good in our lives comes from God. Material things; spiritual things—it’s all grace. It comes from the hand of God and it overflows in our lives.
And when we feel that overflow, we will become truly generous people. The prosperity gospel says, “Give generously to God, and God will make you rich!” The real gospel says, “Give generously to God, because he already has made you rich.”
So before we start talking about freely giving, we’ve got to get really good at freely receiving. We need to learn to look at all of life through the lens of God’s ridiculous grace to us.
And then we can move to our second and final point: Freely Give your Generosity. When you look at this section of Scripture, you see some timeless guidelines for how people who have freely received God’s generosity can turn around and freely give it out. Let me point out four of those guidelines.
First, we should give Joyfully. This is the most important one. Did you notice in verse 8, Paul says, I’m not commanding you… because he knows that you can’t force generosity. And if you do, God doesn’t want it. Paul actually stays on this theme for all of chapters 8 and 9; look what he says in the next
chapter—2 Corinthians 9:7… 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. I remember the first church service I attended in Rwanda. When it came time for the offering, they played this sort of exuberant, wild music, and starting from the back of the room, people started coming up the aisle…dancing. They were holding their offering in their hand, and they were dancing—way better than I dance. And people were clapping and shouting. And as each person got to the front of the room, they dropped their offering in this box with a big smile on their face. I mean, you want to talk about cheerful givers—this was a party in church! The people from the Chapel mission team wanted to give offerings too, so we tried to get in on it (dance moves). The Africans were thinking, “You guys are new at this, aren’t you?” Can you even imagine that scene here at The Chapel? No. But don’t miss the point. When our hearts are overflowing with the grace that God has shown us, it’s not a duty or a burden; it’s a joy.
Secondly we should give Intentionally. The whole reason Paul is writing these words to these people is that he wants them to think about it beforehand. He wants them to intentionally plan to give. Just like we make a plan to pay for college, or pay for a vacation, or pay for a car, right? We don’t say, “Oh—college? Let me see if I have a few bucks in my pocket.” We make a plan—we budget for it. We sacrifice other things so we can pay for it. And God says, “Take your generosity that seriously.”
Paul had written an earlier letter to these people—we call it 1 Corinthians. And in that first letter, here’s what he says about generosity—this is 1 Corinthians 16:2… On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money… There’s the intentionality, right? Set it aside—plan ahead for it. Keep reading…in keeping with your income… So if God has blessed you at a modest level, give a modest amount; if God has blessed you bigger, give a bigger amount.
I’m going to get a little personal and share how this looks for my family. And this might sound strange, because obviously I’m employed by this church; but I’m also a member of this church. Even if I were not on staff here, I would still be here, because I love The Chapel. So as a part of The Chapel, Norma Jean and I intentionally give to our church. We use the general guideline of a tithe—10%—which appears throughout the Bible. I don’t believe that’s a rule for New Testament Christians, but it’s a good guideline. Now: were kind of late adopters when it came to online giving. We literally put a check in the offering plate up until the pandemic, but ever since then we’ve given online. It’s something we budget for and plan for, as our response to God’s grace.
I know for some of you, the idea of giving at that percentage sounds ridiculous—okay. If you don’t give anything intentionally now, here’s my challenge: start somewhere. Start with 3% or 5% and just give that faithfully. And see what happens. See what happens in your spiritual life; see what happens in your family; see what happens in your finances. You’re going to find out that God is faithful.
Thirdly, we should give Increasingly. Look again at 2 Corinthians 8:7…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. If you’re a teacher, and somebody told you, “Don’t get complacent; you should always be improving as a teacher,” you would say, “Of course!” Right? That makes sense. If you’re an IT guy and someone says, “You need to keep growing in your knowledge of the IT world,” you’d say, “Absolutely.” And what Paul is saying here is, “Hey—just as you want to improve in every important area of life, you should strive to become a better and better giver. You should strive for excellence in this area of your life.” In other words, keep stretching. Keep growing in your generosity. Keep seeing how God provides as you honor him with your giving.
I’m going to get personal one more time. And I really struggled with whether to share this, but a few people close to me thought it would be a good thing to share. This past summer my lease ran out on
my Honda CRV. So I went back to the dealership to make a deal on a new lease. Have you tried buying a new car lately? The world has gone crazy. So the guy told me how much it would cost to lease that same car, and it was about double my payment three years earlier. So I went home to think about it. And I thought, “What can I do? I have to have a car.” So a few days later, I was listening to a podcast about a guy who saved tons of money by getting rid of his expensive car payment and finding a $5,000 used car. And I actually prayed, “Lord, if you find me a $5,000 used car, I’ll drive that, and I’ll take the money I would have spent on lease payments every month, and I’ll give it away.” How flippantly I prayed that prayer.
Two days later, I saw an old car parked in front of my house. Turns out it was a 2000 Toyota Avalon with 127,000 miles on it. My 19-year-old son, Ben, said, “Hey dad—did you see the car I bought yesterday? I bought it for $2,000 and I’m trying to sell it for $3,000.” I looked up at God, and then I looked back at Ben and I said, “Sold.” So here’s my deal with God: as long as he keeps that car running, I will drive it and give away the money I would have spent on payments, Knowing God, he’ll probably keep it running for ten more years.
Here’s my point: no matter how long you’ve been following Christ, and no matter how long you’ve been giving, keep looking for ways to grow in your capacity to give. Just as you excel in other areas of life, excel in the grace of giving.
And then, finally, we should give Freely. Look at 2 Corinthians 9, verses 8 and 9—listen to this:
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: (and now he quotes from the Old Testament—from Psalm 112…) “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”
So Paul quotes this Psalm which is all about how righteous people live. And one of the things about them is that they freely scatter their gifts to the poor. They don’t clutch onto their possessions; they freely scatter them—you almost get the idea of recklessness—like they’re constantly, extravagantly giving stuff away. Freely scattering.
Very often, when Norma Jean and I are out to eat, let’s say we’re getting breakfast at a diner, and the bill is $20, so a good tip would be $5, right? That’s 25%. And Norma Jean will say, “Give her a $10.” And I’ll go, “Ten bucks? On a $20 check? That’s a little much!” And she’ll say, “Okay—whatever you want.” She knows exactly how to play me. And I’ll go, “Oh—okay.” And I leave the ten. My wife is a freely giving, extravagant person. And I always walk out of the restaurant feeling really good, because generosity makes you feel really good.
They freely scatter their gifts to the poor. God is inviting us to a mindset of openhandedness and generosity, which flows from his openhandedness and generosity with us. Freely you’ve received; freely give.
Let me close with this, and then we’re going to sing a final worship song together. I want to say this from my heart, as your pastor. When I look back over 2023, this Chapel family has been extraordinarily generous. Remember back in February, there was a massive earthquake in Turkey? About 50,000 people died, and many more were homeless. So we told the Chapel family: for about $700, we can build one of these shelters and provide it for a family who lost their home. This church gave about $50,000, and we were able to build 70 shelters. We recently got an update, and this is one of the shelters, with the family living in it. This is one of the families whose home was destroyed, and they’re so grateful for this shelter. So thank you for your generosity.
This past fall we partnered with World Vision for the Chosen ministry—this incredible sponsorship program where kids choose us, instead of the other way around. Our goal was to sponsor 300 kids from Malawi; this church amazed everybody by sponsoring about 450 kids. I’m still overwhelmed by that, and so grateful.
Just one more example of The Chapel’s generosity: In October we sponsored The Chapel Family Block Party—with trunk or treating and bounce houses and photo booth and games and hot dogs and donuts. About 2,000 people from the community showed up, and people kept asking, “Where do I give the money?” And we kept telling them, “No—everything’s free.” And they couldn’t believe it. They had never seen that kind of generosity before, and it moved them.
This is a beautifully generous church, and I know that it flows from our view of God and how generous he’s been with us.
So as we approach the last few weeks of the year, I want to ask you to make one more step of generosity. We are significantly behind in our giving—which is not unusual for this time of year. But we need some extreme generosity to avoid going into deficit. And I want to be specific: we don’t need extra giving in our Benevolence Fund; we don’t need it in our Global Ministries Fund; we need it in our Chapel Ministries Fund, which is the main fund that keeps this church going. So I’m asking you to please help us finish strongly. Just like Paul, I’m not commanding you; I’m certainly not trying to guilt you; but I am asking you to respond to God’s generosity by giving generously to him.
Everything we’ve talked about in this series—the gift of presence, the gift of pardon, and the gift of possessions—starts with God. He is the original giver. So I’ve asked worship team to lead us in a song that reminds us how God fills our needs.
