Money & The Mission of God

6 · Oswald establishes the first pattern: God advances his mission through financial generosity

And one conclusion we can draw from these two passages is that money makes a difference in the mission of God. For whatever reason, God has decided in his wisdom to require his mission to be funded. He doesn't need to do it that way, but he's determined to do it that way. And so one of the conclusions we can see is that whenever God is doing Something out in the world. Whenever God has a mission that he wants to accomplish out in the world, he will usually use faith expressed in financial generosity to do what he is going to do. I was thinking about something, I don't know if you'd ever noticed this. It was the first time for me that there are all these Josephs in the Bible and that they're all kind of pivotal in their generosity to advance the mission of God at a particular moment, the Old Testament. Joseph of course welcomes his brothers who had wronged and betrayed him into his wealth and shares his wealth and therefore saves the whole nation of Israel. And then we get to the New Testament, we've got this guy named Joseph who's the earthly father of Jesus. And what does this Joseph do? He shares his reputation. He essentially risks his reputation. He shares his life. He provides a home for the baby Jesus. At the end of Jesus life, after he has died on the cross, another Joseph emerges, Joseph of Arimathea. What does he give? Does anybody remember? He gives the tomb that is necessary. The staging ground for the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ is a tomb that that God had given to the people of God through one Joseph's generosity. And then you get to the book of Acts and there's this guy named Joseph who sells a field and gives the contribution to the apostles so that the poor could be taken care of. And his name, his given name is Joseph, but he's also nicknamed Barnabas. So one conclusion we can see is that whenever God's out to accomplish a mission, he actually stirs up faith in individuals that not just those named Joseph by the way, but in other people as well. He stirs up faith and they do something in terms of generosity that advances the story to the next step. So that's one thing.

7 · Oswald establishes the second pattern: biblical generosity is always voluntary, heart-based, and cheerful

The second thing, and this is really important and that is is that the emphasis on giving in the Bible is always focused on voluntary, heart based, cheerful, free will giving. We see that in both of our passages. In Exodus 35 and 36 you see this phrase over and over again in verse 5 and verse 21 and verse 22, verse 29 and chapter 36 you see it a bunch. You see they gave from their heart, their hearts were stirred, their hearts were willing, so on and so forth. And then when you get to the passage in the New Testament you see the exact same thing. Paul's saying, we're not going to do this in a way that is exacting or under compulsion. I want you to give freely. He says in verse one and two, it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know the readiness of which I boast to you. In verse five, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead. But you are ready to give not as a will, as a willing gift, and not as exaction. It's interesting that actually all of the biblical data about generosity is really focused strongly on, strongly on volitional free will offering. Not manipulated, not under compulsion, not under exaction. Even when you get to ideas like the tithe in the Old Testament, which was mandated, of course, you realize a few things when you think about it for a minute. Number one, there was really no way to know whether people were actually tithing or not. And number two, even when he would call the people to tithe and he would reason with them so as to stir up their own desire to give, a classic passage for that idea is Malachi 3, 8, 10, God could just as easily say, give because I told you to. Give because I told you to. And over and over again we see him going the extra mile not only to command giving, but to teach the people so that their hearts would be willing. In Malachi 3, 8, 10, God says, will man rob God yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you and your tithes and contributions? You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Now, how does he speak to them about their obedience? He tells them what the problem is. How does he speak to them about their obedience? Look at verse 10. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no need. So he is really focused not just on giving, because he obviously doesn't need the money. He's really focused on hearts full of faith to sacrifice their finances as they trust him, as they believe him. So we've got two ideas so far. Number one, whenever God is advancing his mission, he typically uses money. Number two, not just any money, though. He's really focused on willing, heart motivated generosity. It's very important to him.

8 · Oswald establishes the third pattern: generosity is not elite Christianity but a vital sign of conversion

Now, number three, and this one I think is very important as well. What we can draw as a conclusion from these two passages and a number of others in the Bible, we can see this generosity is not an Expression of elite Christianity. Generosity is not an expression of elite Christianity. Both of our subjects, the Exodus generation and the Corinthians, were infamous for their immaturity. These are not the heroes of the Bible, full of faith, full of obedience. These are not highly mature people. These are highly immature people. I think it's important that each one of you understand that generosity is more like a pulse, evidence of the new life in Christ than it is some kind of feat of strength. This is definitely more like a white belt than a black belt. This is definitely more like something that you just simply begin to do as an expression of your salvation than it is something you grow up into and mature into. Any suggestion that the last thing to be converted in a people is their pocketbook is simply not what the Bible teaches. Over and over again we find that generosity is actually a low hanging fruit that the majority of people, when they are truly converted, participate in gladly. You could think of someone like Zacchaeus. In Luke chapter 19, Jesus says of Zacchaeus in verse 9, Today, salvation has come to this house. Well, how did he know that? I mean, well, he was Jesus, but what is he responding to that causes him to say that? Well, the very first thing that Zacchaeus does when he is converted is recorded in verse eight. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Do you understand as a tax collector, how much money left Zacchaeus account on that day, that very first day of being a Christian? Like a newborn baby breathes and we know he's okay because he breathes. A newborn Christian gives. Generosity is not some accomplishment of elite Christianity. It's really more like a pulse, it's really more like a vital sign than it is some kind of virtue that's dancing out there somewhere. In Acts chapter 16, our first European convert, a lady named Lydia, what does she do the moment she's saved? She opens her whole household up to the apostles and insists that they take of her possessions. If you've ever been in third world context, you understand what, what kind of cost is associated with hospitality. It really is just a blank check. And Lydia, first thing she does when she's saved is she gives in a sacrificial way. We talked about Barnabas, also known as Joseph in Acts 2. What is his deal? You know, what's he giving? How long has he been a Christian? He's only been a Christian for a couple moments and he sells a field and he gives the proceeds to the apostles. So it's very important to that we understand that generosity is not an expression of elite Christianity. It's just an expression of average Christianity. It's really just a basic sign that you understand the nature of the story that you're in.

9 · Oswald tells a self-deprecating story about lying to his wife to get her to watch a thriller (Signs) he told her was a comedy

I remembered. This is embarrassing to admit. I remember one time when I lied, just bald faced, lied to my wife back in 2000 or 2001. I really wanted to see a movie. Now back then we had no money, you know, and movies were a very important decision. Like we're going to pay to go to a movie. We both have to really agree to go to this movie. We both have to want to. And I said, let's go to a movie tonight. She's like, okay, but I want to see a comedy. And I said, cool. Now I really wanted to see this movie called Signs, which is a great movie. It's a great movie. And she's like, I really want to see a comedy tonight. And I said, cool. There's this movie called Signs. It's a comedy. Let's go together. So we both go into the theater and we're both having completely different experiences. Because I knew what the movie was about, she didn't. She kept waiting for the comedy. And she was not in a comedy movie.

10 · Oswald applies the illustration: Christianity is a comedy (in the classical sense—a story with a happy ending)

Friends, we are all in a comedy. The comedy is that the God of the universe has given us his son. We got to know the nature of the story we're in. Generosity is not because you've ascended to some kind of kung fu level of Christian mastery. It's just, you know, the punchline. The punchline is the God of the universe emptied himself and took the form of a servant and gave himself.

11 · Oswald introduces the concept of sui generis—an unclassifiable category—and argues that the Gospel is an act of sui generis generosity

Maybe one idea to help you with this is there's this Latin phrase called sui generis. What sui generis means is that it's a type or a species that cannot be classified in any other way. It's from the word genus, which is actually where generosity comes from as well. Sui generis is this idea of an unclassifiable kind of thing. And what we have in the gospel is an unclassifiable, standalone, completely unique act of generosity that dwarfs whatever it is you could possibly give in response to it. Our generosity in many respects is in response to the sui generosity of Jesus Christ.

12 · Oswald grounds the Exodus generation's surprising generosity (post-golden calf) in their experience of God's covenant-renewing grace

And that's in our text. Our folks that where did this faith come from suddenly for these folks that had just recently been golden calving to suddenly just have such generosity that they had to be told to stop There was too much material, it was too hard to manage the giving that was occurring. Where did that come from? Well, friends, they had just experienced the grace of God. They had just experienced God renewing covenant with them when they deserved to be destroyed. The grace of God is the thing that sparks this heartfelt generosity that then advances the mission of God. In 2nd Corinthians 9:13, Paul says it very clearly that the reason that the Corinthians are giving is because they understand the basic nature of the Gospel. Look at verse 13 of 2 Corinthians 9. By their approval of this service they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the Gospel of Christ. Where is their generosity coming from? The Gospel of Jesus Christ this is what Paul says earlier in chapter eight when he's reminding them he's getting them prepared to give. He says in chapter eight, verse nine, for you know, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. Generosity is just a sign that you understand the basics of the Christian faith.

13 · Oswald begins narrating the story of the sinful woman anointing Jesus in Luke 7—setting up the scandal, the Pharisee's internal indictment of Jesus, and the social dynamics at play

In Luke chapter 7, Jesus is meeting with a Pharisee. And as he's meeting with the Pharisees having dinner, a woman comes in, crashes in uninvited and starts weeping all over him, and washing his feet with her tears. And there's quite a bit of scandal going on here. This is not a woman of good repute. And things are being thought in the Pharisees heads as they watch this whole scene. And the main thing is an indictment on Jesus. After all, if he really was a prophet, he would know that this woman is not the kind of woman you want leaping on your feet.

14 · Oswald reads Jesus' parable of the two debtors from Luke 7:41-43

And Jesus, in response to the thoughts that they're having, tells the following parable in Luke 7, verse 41. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, that's the Pharisee, the one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly.

15 · Oswald completes the Luke 7 exposition, reading Jesus' contrast between the Pharisee's stinginess and the woman's lavish generosity

Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered this house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little love's little generosity is not some sort of kung fu that you eventually graduate to. It's really just a sign that you get the basics of Christianity, that you were in a sin debt unpayable by you in any effort you might ever extend. And that God, in his rich sui generosity, reached down and demonstrated his own love for you, and that while you were his enemy, he sent his son to die for you and to make an atonement for your sins and to satisfy your sin debt. And so if you realize how much you've been forgiven, giving is not really that big of a deal.

16 · Oswald signals the fourth pattern and restates it twice for emphasis: generosity does not leave the giver impoverished

Number four, fourth conclusion from comparing these two texts is simply this. Generosity does not leave you poor. Generosity does not leave you poor.

17 · Oswald opens with a UFC illustration (Conor McGregor's 'apologize to nobody' line) to frame his unapologetic stance on preaching generosity

Some of you know that I've watched UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship for basically the whole time it's been around. And I've plagued my wife with that viewing as well. I told her it was a comedy. There was a particular moment, I won't get into the details, but there's a particular moment when a guy, he not only had one championship secured, but he had this brilliant fight on the night at just a brilliant fight, and he won a second championship in a second weight division. It was the first time we had a champ champ. Two weight division champ. Joe Rogan gets up to interview him, and this is a sassy guy, not anybody I'd commend to follow exactly, but Joe Rogan comes up to interview him, and the guy says, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely nobody. Friends, I would like to take this moment to apologize for preaching on generosity to absolutely nobody. Why? Well, all the things I just said, but also this generosity does not leave you poorer. I'm doing you a favor here right now. As Jim Elliot said one time, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Generosity does not leave you poorer. Paul says this very thing in Second Corinthians in chapter 9, verse 6. He says, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Generosity is not going to leave you poor. It might leave you poor in one measurement and richer in another. But boy, we can trust God with converting our riches into what we need. We can trust God into converting our finances into stuff we need. And so one thing to Understand from both of these passages is none of these people emerged from this great sacrifice poor in any meaningful way, because God doesn't do it that way. He blesses them in one way or another. He will always take care of you. Paul says that he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

18 · Oswald establishes the fifth pattern: generosity is not usually spontaneous—it requires leadership initiation

Number five. Generosity is not usually spontaneous. This is our fifth point, our fifth observation from comparing these two texts. Generosity is not usually spontaneous. Now, this is a tricky one. And the reason it's tricky is, is that you want generosity to flow out of a willing heart. That's really the only kind that God accepts. So you want that. And as a leader, then you have to understand, like, you just can't constantly harp on this. You can't manipulate people. You can't bully them rhetorically. You can't harp on this all the time, because if you do that willing heart evaporates. And it's sort of like, what check can I write to get you to shut up? You know, which is not what we're looking for here. We're looking to bless God. And so if you're really trying to do this right as a leader, you've got attention. Because the truth is, you don't want to talk about this a lot. Because if you talk about it a lot, it becomes kind of this bullying, this rhetorical manipulation, so forth. But the problem is this fifth idea, and that is that generosity is not usually spontaneous. In both of our passages, and not just these passages, lots of other ones, the giving is initiated by the leader who asks for them to give. Moses has to go to the people and say, now is the time to give. And Paul has to go to the people and say, now's the time to give. And Paul had to go a couple times just to make sure that they were going to follow through. And so that's a. That's a. That just introduces just a tension that you can appreciate as you sit under preaching about finances is it shouldn't be this kind of hammer where it's just constant. And it shouldn't be this kind of guilt manipulation thing either. It should be unapologetic. And it should be something like, hey, I want to initiate this, but. But then I want to let it go again, and I want to see what God does with his Word. Giving is never completely spontaneous or almost never completely spontaneous. It does need to be initiated in some way.

19 · Oswald establishes the sixth pattern: generosity is contagious

Another point. Number six, generosity is usually contagious. We see that explicitly in the Second Corinthians passage. Paul says that the Corinthians zeal to give stirred up the zeal of other churches to give as well. This is another way that God causes generosity to take place. He brings faith to some who in their zeal step out and give and make some kind of, you know, difficult contribution. And then others see that and they follow suit and so on and so forth. It's not explicit that that's the case in the Exodus story, but what sure feels like some momentum had caught in terms of that people following one another, outdoing one another, and showing honor and piling up all of these materials that were needed, you know, to build the tabernacle.

20 · Oswald establishes the seventh pattern: generosity must be stewarded with transparency and integrity

Number seven. Generosity should be stewarded with transparency and integrity. Generosity should be stewarded with transparency and integrity. People who are being generous have every right to have some clear sense of where their money's going and how it's being handled. Now, one of the interesting things about our Exodus passage is think of how transparent that was. It really doesn't get much more transparent because you bring your acacia wood and the next day it's a table. Like, it's all like, right there. You know, the pile is here, the workers are here, the product is here, and it's just all super transparent and observable. There's really no mystery about where the stuff is going. And I think that also encouraged in many respects we, the craftsman to say quite clearly, hey, we, we have enough. We. In a, in a way, I think they were saying, like, we don't want to be responsible for any more of this pile. We don't really know what we're going to do with all this. Let's, let's slow it down.

21 · Oswald reads 2 Corinthians 8:16-21, showing Paul's proactive accountability measures: he sends Titus and another brother appointed by the churches to ensure the collection is handled honorably in God's sight and in the sight of man

Paul, actually, one of the things I've found is, is that the higher level of integrity a leader has, the less defensive he has about being suspected to be a low integrity leader. It's the weirdest thing ever. The. The more integrity they have, the less defensive they are about, about accusations of having low integrity. And Paul actually goes out of his way in this particular instance in Second Corinthians to let them know that he is going to be careful and transparent and accountable with the finances that they contribute. Because now it's not. Now it's not stuff that's a simpler system. Now it's money. And that gets more complicated. So what does he say? Look at chapter 8, 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, verse 16. But thanks be to God, who put it into the heart of Titus, the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he is going to you of his own accord. With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the Gospel. And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself. And to show our goodwill, we take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us. For we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also in the sight of man. This makes sense, right? If the people are acting in faith, the leaders should respond in good faith. They should go out of their way to show that what they're doing is above board. There should be a transparency, a non defensiveness about handling these sorts of things.

22 · Oswald draws a parallel to Acts 6—the origin of the deaconate as a response to concerns about financial distribution

So what Paul's doing actually is he's setting up a group of people of all kind of divided interests and origins who will keep each other accountable. Remember how we got the deacons? Remember how deacons emerged in Acts? It was the same kind of deal. People were concerned that the finances that were being given were not being correctly distributed. Did the apostles get all defensive about that and say, well, how dare you not trust us? I'm so tired of that language. How dare you not trust us? By the way, if you're raising teenagers, be ready for that one. That's pretty funny. Anyway, they didn't do any of that. They're just like, okay, so there's some murkiness here about how this is all going. No problem. You guys appoint some deacons, some servants, and they'll manage all this and make sure that it's all above board.

23 · Oswald establishes the eighth pattern: leadership integrity is everything in generosity

So that's another thing we see in our passage. And we don't give foolishly or blindly without any expectation that our finances will be taken care of. No, we identify people who have systems and clarity about these things, and we trust our money with them, but only in the sense of we trust them to be accountable and trust them to have integrity and so on and so forth. And finally, man, leadership is everything when it comes to this. Leadership is everything when it comes to this. This is such a nuanced thing to lead a people of God into being generous. As I've showed you, there's already, there's plenty of tensions there. But one of the Things we can see in both of these passages is that, boy, these men were the perfect men to lead these incredible acts of generosity. Both of them were simply above reproach when it came to the accusation of greed. They were above reproach when it came to the accusation of greed. We see in Hebrews 11:26 that Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking forward to the reward by faith. He left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. What's the idea there? Well, no one, no one Israel of right mind, no one of the Exodus generation in right mind would be able to say, moses, you're only in this for the money. Why? As he had left much better riches when he chose to walk with these people, it was clear to the people that this was not a guy motivated by greed. We're walking through the elder qualifications in First Timothy 3 right now. One of those is not a lover of money. People need to know that the leader, leaders who are managing their finances, their contributions are above board and not motivated by this. And it's really clear to the people, of all the things they might accuse Moses of, one of them wasn't, you're in this for the money. He had better TV at home. You know, he had a better setup at home.

24 · Oswald reads Acts 20:33-35, showing Paul's testimony to the Ephesian elders that he worked with his own hands and coveted no one's wealth—even refusing financial support he was entitled to in order to strengthen the saints' consciences

Likewise, Paul just exceptionally above board in this particular area. He was just known as a guy who, even when he could receive finances from the saints to support his needs, wouldn't just to make sure that their consciences could be strengthened, knowing that he was above board in this respect. In Acts 20, he's talking to the Ephesian elders and he says in verse 33, I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. There's his hands 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.

25 · Oswald summarizes the eight patterns extracted from comparing Exodus 35-36 and 2 Corinthians 8-9, then drives home to the theological center: the grace of Christ who became poor to make us rich

So those are eight points we see when we compare an act of generosity that happened in the desert of Sinai 1500 years before the second event, which was a group of Corinthians, former pagans, converted and now giving to care for the needs of the Jews in Jerusalem. We see that generosity is just a part of God's advancing his mission. We see that it's not like this kind of kung fu, black belt thing where it's like, okay, when I get super mature, then I'll give. No, it's really more like kind of one of the first things that a Christian does when they realize they're been blessed and saved and so forth. We've seen all of these things, and we can drive home to this simple idea that we already mentioned. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is such that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich. This table is set before you this morning as again, Christianity 101. I don't have to have a theology degree to understand what's presented to you here. This is about someone who didn't need to empty himself. Emptying himself. This is about someone who didn't just give some, but gave all and gave all for the redemption of each one of you.

26 · Oswald applies with pastoral care: he will not use the teaching to beat consciences or cause unnecessary salvation doubt, but he will not soften the simplicity either

Well, I tell you, I wouldn't want to use this idea. You know, generosity is just kind of like a basic thing a Christian does. I wouldn't want to use that to beat anyone on your. On their heads. I wouldn't want to use that to cause anyone to unnecessarily doubt their salvation. But I would also want to say this is not complicated, friends. The God of the universe, though he was rich, became poor for you. And one great evidence that you understand that is by faith receiving what God has given and then in turn following his example and caring for those around you that are in need.

27 · Oswald closes with pastoral prayer, asking God to do what he as preacher cannot: penetrate hearts through the Spirit and make joyful givers

Let me pray, Father. God, we thank you for your holy word. We pray that your word would do a work in our hearts so that we could follow you in the good works you've set for us in advance. Lord, we are so glad that you own the cattle on a thousand heels. We are never really. Lord, we are never forsaken. We are never left. We are always taken care of and we can count on you and trust you. Father, sometimes just our flesh, the world, the devil even creeps in and gives us an alternate story on how we should handle our finances. And that alternate story is based so much on fear. Lord, through your Holy Spirit, would you do the opposite? Your word says that perfect love casts out all fear, that we have not received a spirit of slavery which leads to fear, but a spirit of adoption. Lord, I don't have the words to do it. Would you, through your spirit, use the word of God to penetrate hearts and make joyful givers? Lord, let it begin by us walking up to this table and tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, that on the night when he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and offered it. And he poured a cup and offered it. And he said, this is me. I'm giving you myself. Lord, may we participate in this table with faith. And that faith, Lord, fuel as your word says, good deeds. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Come now.