Generosity: A Worship Issue

Jesus isn't primarily talking about your budget. He's talking about your heart — and where your treasure goes, your heart follows.

This Is About Worship, Not Just Money

If you're sitting there thinking, here comes another sermon about what to do with money and stuff — you're right. But here's why it matters beyond the practical: this is ultimately about worship. 'Stewardship is a worship issue.' ^[4] The texts Jesus gives us on money and possessions 'are intended by Jesus to protect us from worshiping money and all the stuff that money can buy.' ^[4] That's the framing. Not guilt. Not fundraising. Protection from idolatry.

And the logic runs straight through the chest: 'what our money goes after is an indication of what our heart goes after. There is an undeniable link between our spiritual vitality, between our worship, and how we handle and how we relate to money and possessions.' ^[4] You cannot separate your checkbook from your theology. Jesus won't let you. He designed them to be connected.

Two Treasures — One Choice

Jesus lays it out plainly in Matthew 6:19–21: 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' ^[4][1] Notice what he's not debating. He's not asking *whether* you will pursue treasure. Just *which* treasure are you going to pick? ^[1]

'You have two treasures to choose from. Earthly treasure or heavenly treasure. And you have two and only two choices.' ^[4] If you mainly accumulate earthly treasure, that's an indication that your heart is aimed at something other than God. But 'if you are marked as a person who uses his or her money and resources to store up heavenly treasure, this is an indication that your heart is aimed towards heaven where God is on the throne, the only one worthy of your worship.' ^[4]

The Danger Is Real — And It Lies to You

It is 'impossible to preach through the Gospels and not touch on the twin topics of money and possessions. Jesus talks about them frequently and for good reason. They are a great temptation and a potential snare for anyone who would follow Jesus.' ^[5] Paul's indictment in 1 Timothy 6 is surgical: 'But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.' ^[6]

Here's the part that should stop you cold: 'indwelling sin is rough on us. It really does lie to us. And it'll tell us we love God when we don't. And it'll tell us we don't love money when we do. Just be careful. You're your own con artist.' ^[6] People think money will keep them safe — and that's precisely the trap. 'Leaning on money as a source of safety' means you are leaning into a thing that 'is in and of itself, if looked at wrongly, a great danger to you.' ^[6] A security cobra, not a security guard.

Contentment: The Protection Against Grasping

The protection Paul offers isn't a budget plan. It's contentment. 'Contentment is a sense of enoughness.' ^[1] And it runs in both directions: 'It will keep you from grumbling in hard times, and it'll keep you from grasping in bountiful times.' ^[6] Neither scarcity nor abundance is safe without it. Paul knew life was short and valuable. 'He didn't want to spend it accumulating fragile wealth that would not transfer into the next life. He wanted to spend it accumulating eternal wealth. And he got all of this simply by listening to Jesus.' ^[1]

Paul's contentment had a specific source: 'He had a relative indifference to earthly finances because he had a relative high regard and need and desire for eternal riches... Paul's earthly contentment is downstream of his heavenly hunger.' ^[6] He was content in one area because he was *not* content in another. That's the diagnostic question worth sitting with: Are you spiritually content but circumstantially discontent? ^[6] If so, the adjustment isn't circumstantial — it's directional.

Generosity Requires Faith — And Faith Has a Promise

To live with radical generosity 'requires faith. Faith that God sees us. Not just that he sees us, but that he knows what we need. That we can be generous because God is going to provide for us in the midst of our generosity.' ^[7] This is a countercultural way to live — 'radically kingdom-centered lives handle money and possessions in radically different ways. Radical generosity, a countercultural approach to how they earn and how they spend.' ^[7] The kingdom shapes people, and shaped people handle money differently.

And the investment is genuinely secure. 'God has promised to keep our inheritance.' ^[8] Jesus says store up treasures in heaven 'where those things don't happen' — where moth and rust and thieves cannot reach. ^[8] 'So if you pursue godliness, you'll get godliness, and that godliness will be yours. Christ will guard it for you.' ^[8] That is not a bad return.

The Better Path — And No Regrets

C.S. Lewis put it plainly, and it's the same logic: 'aim for earth, get nothing. Aim for heaven, get earth thrown in. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you.' ^[2] These are not two competing lives — one joyful and one obedient. 'If you will live for the Lord and really live for the Lord, you will find that that path was the best path for you.' ^[2] The generous life is not the life that loses. It is the life that wins.

Paul had every intellectual and relational tool available to monetize his influence and accumulate earthly wealth. He didn't. And the verdict at the end of his life was not bitterness or lack. He said, as Paul said, as Peter said, as David Livingston said, 'I have no regrets. I am so grateful that I lived all in for the Lord Jesus.' ^[2] That testimony is available to anyone who chooses the better treasure.

This page synthesizes what Chris Oswald has preached on generosity at Providence Community Church. Every claim above traces to the cited sermons — follow any citation to read the full sermon, listen to the audio, and see the surrounding context. Minute marks are approximate, estimated from each sermon's transcript.