As we become a church, a community of people learning to follow Jesus in sync even while apart, we are working to be commited to five key things.  This week, we’re looking to be commited to generosity in our resources.  We want to be known for this as a community.

One of the first church leaders, Paul, wrote this to Timothy, who he was mentoring to lead churches after him:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. – 1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV

We asked yesterday if you knew anyone who worshipped money, and how you could tell.  That’s exactly what Paul is warning about here.  He doesn’t want the church to be a community where people set their hopes on material things.  If we do, we will quickly find they are not eternally safe.  Stocks fall, companies bankrupt, mortgages default, technology goes obsolete, and goods rot and rust away.

A right attitude about money and posessions doesn’t start with rules, principles or anything on this earth, rather it starts with God himself.  If you put your faith and trust in him first, you will see money and material differently as a result.  We’ll look at four shifts in our thinking:

It All Comes from God

God is not trying to take money away from us.  We are being invited to share in God’s work and to commit our resources to this work.  This invitation is always a privilege. It comes from our need for God, not God’s need for us

The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell says something that Chrsitians have known all along.  He looks at highly successful people in our world, and searches for the origins of their success. Not once does he find a self-made person who engineered 100% of their own success.  Each had unique opportunities handed to them, that allowed them to excel.  This is how Christians have always known our lives to work!

This is a shift: We are now managing the money, time and talents that have been entrusted to us by God, in order to make sure that God’s work is done.  When applied to personal finances, to how we use our time and our natural skills and abilities, this is an absolutely radical concept. It goes to the very core of who we are and how we see ourselves.

We Need to Give

The conventional wisdom concerning money is that we have to learn how to hang on to it, not how to give it away.

We need to give in order to be free:  The seductive power of money is undeniable.  But it is disarmingly subtle.  In ensnares us without our even being aware of it.  It wraps chains around our hearts, our minds, our imagination without our even noticing….

There is only one way.  The power of money can only be broken by learning to give it away.  The basic question is simply, Will I control my money, or will my money control me ?

When we begin to give, the chains begin to break.  This can be very uncomfortable, frequently it is painful.  Yet once the chains are broken we experience the sheer exhilaration of freedom.  Only then do we realize how tightly the chains were wrapped around our heart.  Only then can we really understand what Jesus meant when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  We were created to give, not to hoard…Jesus wants us to be free.

We need to give in order to find fulfillment:
Enough always seems to be just a little bit more than I have right now.  A study was done by an economist called George Barna and it shows that most people seriously believe that they need approximately $8-10,000 more a year to live the way they would like to and no matter how much their income increases they still believe they need 8k-10k more.  They never find it.

People who give of their time and resources in service of others will tell you time and time again how incredibly fulfilling it is…that happiness doesn’t come from wealth, financial or otherwise, but rather because they are happy with what God has given, they are able to be contented and happy in all things, and that is a kind of wealth in itself that overflows into all parts of life.

Question: Have you ever found freedom or fulfillment in giving?  Why?

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - May 13, 2014

Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Spirit

The book of Acts was written by Luke, a medical doctor who took an interest in the teachings of Jesus through his mentor, Peter. He’s examined the evidence for Jesus’ life in his earlier letter, the Gospel of Luke, and this time he’s looking at what happened to those who decided to continue following Jesus. Jesus has given his followers a huge mission – we learned this last week – to share his good news with the entire world. To the ends of the earth! He gave this mission to twelve central disciples and a hundred or so people who may have gathered around them in this story. It would be hugely daunting, with no modern communications, travel options. They were in uncharted territory, and needed a guide. Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit, and said to wait for him to arrive. Here’s what happened on the day of Pentecost, a Jewish festival. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:1-13 ESV) How could they know if this was truly the Holy Spirit, their guide for this mission they’d been assigned? They experienced three phenomena that only God could produce. Wind It sounded like wind, but wasn’t. It was the Holy Spirit. Not a bad attempt at a physical description of God’s Spirit – we know we can feel the wind, see its effects, but also that we can’t ever pinpoint or control its source. It’s out of our control, and in the case of a sailboat, we have to admit this if we ever want to get anywhere, by adapting ourselves to the reality of the wind’s direction and strength. Flames It looked like fire, wasn’t. This phenomenon didn’t burn them or produce heat. It just appeared and rested on them. They were on fire! Tongues These people sounded like they were speaking languages they knew, but they weren’t. They were speaking other people’s languages. Tomorrow we’ll see the meaning of all this, particularly the languages or tongues. Why all these odd signs of the Spirit? John the Baptist said Spirit would come with wind and fire. God has used these signs before – in Exodus God appeared as a pillar of fire to guide his people. But why now? Question: What do you think God is trying to teach these disciples through wind, fire and speech? What’s he showing them about the Holy Spirit?

Related Topics: Ascension, Early Church, Jesus, Pioneer | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Pioneer Story"

We read through the Book of Acts as a Pioneer Story for the church.

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