Well, again, let me say good morning to all of you.
I'm delighted that we can be here together, delighted that we can gather and worship,
and in particular today, kind of remember why we're here.
You know, 14 years ago, we started this church, and when we started the church, we made a
commitment, and that commitment was to love the people in the city of Washington, D.C.
long-term, which by long-term, we mean long-term, multi-generational, right, until Jesus comes
again, as long as the Lord would have us here.
And so today, one of the things that's happening is we are relaunching the home campaign.
We feel that this is the time in the life of our church where we need to find a permanent
home so that we can make good on that long-term commitment.
And we're going to be hearing a little bit more about that later in the service, but
I just want to say this is a huge opportunity for us.
It's a huge opportunity for us.
This is the first time that our church has been through anything like this.
We've really never done anything like this before.
And as I thought about and prayed about this time in the life of our church, which I have
for many, many, many hours of time in prayer, thinking and pondering what this might be in
the life of our church, I would say this.
My greatest hope is not necessarily that we would get a building, although that's certainly
a hope of mine.
But my greatest hope is that this would be a time of tremendous spiritual growth for us,
that this would be a time where we come together as a community and we grow, and in particular,
we learn more about what it means to trust God, because it's the kind of thing that's
going to require an enormous amount of trust.
And so that's what I've really been praying, and in particular, that we would trust God when
it comes to our finances, because this is going to be the single biggest financial decision
we've ever made as a community.
So what we're going to be doing for the next few weeks in light of that and our desire to
grow through this process is to be talking a little bit about stewardship and about how
we think about our finances individually and as a community.
And it's important that we do this because, honestly, in the history of our church, we haven't
really done it all that much.
I mean, I could probably count on one hand the number of times that we have specifically
preached on this topic.
And so we're going to be focusing on that for the next few weeks.
Jesus actually talks more about wealth than almost any other topic.
Just take all the topics that, you know, the kind of more hot-button topics like sex or
heaven or hell.
Jesus talks way more about wealth than any of those other topics.
And one of the reasons, I think, is because the relationship that we have with our stuff is
kind of a spiritual barometer.
It reflects the state of our hearts.
And actually, this week in Luke chapter 2, we're going to see this encounter between
Jesus and a man who, we might say, has a dysfunctional relationship with his stuff, with his wealth.
And so we're going to see how Jesus responds to this man and what it looks like to have a
healthy, godly relationship with our wealth.
Now, you may hear this and think, well, you know, this doesn't really apply to me because
I'm not really actually that wealthy, you know, so I'm going to kind of tune out.
But what we have to understand is Jesus is teaching a group of people who, by almost every standard,
are dirt poor.
Jesus' original audience in this text is made up mostly of people who are living hands-to-mouth,
right, who may own one additional set of clothing other than what they're wearing.
So, if this would apply to them, certainly I think it would apply to us, at least to me.
So, what we're going to see as we look at Luke chapter 2 is three things.
We're going to see the symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with our stuff.
How do we know?
Then we're going to see the underlying source or cause of the dysfunction.
And then finally, we're going to look at the cure, the way out, the way into a healthier
relationship with our stuff.
So, symptoms cause cure.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You that You're a God who is here, who is living
inactive, who speaks to us.
And Lord, I know that when I hear a topic like this, there's a part of me that recoils.
I don't want to know.
I don't want to hear what You have to say.
And I confess that to You.
And I pray that despite that, Lord, that You would speak words of healing, words of truth,
words of goodness, words of grace, that You would invite us to open our hearts and minds
to what You have to say to us this morning.
I pray this for all of us, Lord.
We all need You this morning in one way or another.
We pray this in Your Son's name.
Amen.
So, first of all, the symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with our stuff.
The first thing that we see as we begin to dig into this passage, beginning in verse 13,
is that a dysfunctional relationship with money often results in strained relationships.
It stresses our relationships.
It causes tension in our relationships.
This whole scene is set off when a man comes up to Jesus while he's in the middle of teaching
and he interrupts him.
And he says in verse 13,
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
Now, you can understand, you know, Jesus is teaching and this man is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
you can do that later.
This is more important.
I want you to tell my brother to give me what he owes me.
So, this guy's father has probably recently died and instead of grieving,
he's fighting with his siblings over the inheritance.
And, you know, I've known a number of families who have gone through this very thing.
Some sort of wealthy, older, previous generation person passes away
and the entire focus isn't on grieving the death and the loss and coming together in that.
The entire focus is who's going to get what, you know?
And sometimes it's not just a big inheritance.
Sometimes it's like who's going to get that antique armoire?
You know, grandma always said that I was her favorite and I was going to get the antique dining room set
and now you get it, right?
This happens all the time.
And so, it strains our relationships.
You know, money is the number one issue that married couples fight about.
It's probably not a surprise to most of you.
It's definitely been an issue in our marriage
as two people come together and try to figure out how to share expenses
and how to combine accounts and how to prioritize spending
and how to save and where to invest.
And it causes lots of tension.
I've also seen money come between roommates.
When, you know, there's bills aren't getting paid
and you got one person who's super responsible
and they're always on top of paying the bills
and the other person's, you know, always supposed to Venmo their share
but they never do it.
You know, and you have to remind them like 15 times.
It comes between friendships, right?
I see it dividing friends when some start to make more than others.
You know, you graduate from college and you're all kind of at the same level
and then after graduation over the next like 10, 15, 20 years
like some people go into investment banking
and other people go into like non-profit work, you know?
And there starts to be this divide
and then you've got some friends who were like
they go out to eat like six nights a week
and they're always going to like the new place in town.
And you got the other person who's like barely able to pay their bills, you know?
And they want to hang out but they just can't
because they start moving in different circles, right?
Because of that income split, right?
So it causes tension in friendships.
And, you know, dysfunctional relationships with wealth
lead to all kinds of injustice
and much of that we see right here in our city.
You know, a lot of the wealth disparity is very clearly,
you can draw lines on the DC map, right?
Between wealthy and poor depending on where people live
and those lines are there for a reason, right?
There are systemic causes for that disparity.
It also leads to overconsumption and waste
so it hurts our relationship with the world itself.
Our dysfunctional relationship with wealth
causes all kinds of relational tension.
So if that's true for you, if you're like,
man, this has caused stress in some of my relationships,
maybe you have a dysfunctional relationship with your wealth.
So that's the first thing, strained relationships.
The second thing we see is down in verse 22.
Another symptom, excessive anxiety.
Excessive anxiety.
Verse 22, Jesus says,
therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.
Why does he say that?
Because most of us are anxious about our lives.
He says, don't be anxious about what you're going to eat.
About your body.
What you'll put on.
How much time do you spend worrying about your finances?
It's a good question to reflect on.
How much time do you spend worrying about financial security?
Let me put it another way.
How much does the desire for financial security and stability
drive your decision making?
You know, and if you're hearing this and you're like,
I don't really spend all that much time worrying about my money.
Let me put it yet another way.
Do your financial priorities reflect God's heart
or do they reflect a desire for financial security?
Right?
At the end of the day,
if a friend that you knew and you were close to
was in dire financial need,
would you dip into your retirement account
to help them out?
Right?
Where are your priorities?
Right?
It's something we're thinking.
I don't think I worry about that that much.
Maybe not, but maybe, yeah, maybe you do.
So, excessive anxiety.
Number three, another symptom is what we might think of
as a scarcity mentality.
Scarcity mentality.
We live with a scarcity mentality.
Verse 29,
And do not seek what you are to eat
and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
For all the nations of the world seek after these things.
And we need to understand the phrase seek after
means a kind of single-minded pursuit.
What Jesus is saying is,
don't focus exclusively on worrying
whether or not you're going to have enough.
And that's a scarcity mentality.
A scarcity mentality means we get so focused
on what we don't have
that we begin to lose sight of what we do have.
And we become so focused on what we're afraid
of lacking in the future
that we're oblivious to all of the abundance around us.
And one of the key ways that you know
that you have a scarcity mentality
is that all of your life is lived on zero-sum terms.
You know, your loss is my gain.
My loss is your gain.
That's a scarcity mentality.
So, people with a scarcity mentality
tend to compare themselves to other people constantly.
You know, your friend gets promoted.
And you feel threatened by that.
And so, you have to mentally tear them down
or undercut them in order to feel less threatened by that.
Well, they only got that because they're the favorite.
They only got that because they're constantly kissing up.
Or, you know, they didn't earn it.
You know, if it had been me, I would have deserved it.
That's scarcity mentality.
People with a scarcity mentality
tend to hoard their possessions.
They tend to, not like the show hoarders,
but just kind of, you know, but maybe.
But they tend to kind of hold on to their stuff.
They tend to be stingy.
You know, people with a scarcity mentality
tend to be stingy with their money,
with their stuff, with their time.
People with a scarcity mentality
tend to struggle with perpetual discontentment
because you're always focusing on what you lack
and what other people have.
And if it just had this or that or this or that,
then, right, that's a scarcity mentality.
And Jesus says, you know,
this is the way of the nations.
And what he's saying is, you know,
this is how most people live.
And guess what?
When he says the nations,
he's talking about people who don't believe in God.
So another way of saying it is,
he says, this is how atheists live.
This is how agnostics live.
You know, this is how people
who completely reject the idea of God,
this is how they live.
And his point is, and you believe in God,
you have a special relationship with God,
and yet you're living the same way.
Right?
That's an interesting point Jesus is making.
It probably stung for them to hear that.
Right?
So just to kind of pull this together,
if money has ever put strain or stress
on any of your relationships,
friends, family, roommates, spouse,
if money leads to excessive anxiety
and you begin to realize,
I actually prioritize my financial decisions
to gain stability rather than to reflect
what God might be calling me to do,
if money tends to drive you to live
with a scarcity mentality,
perpetual discontentment,
constant comparison, zero-sum mentality,
chances are you have a dysfunctional relationship
with your stuff.
Now, what's the cause of this dysfunction?
Where is it rooted?
Jesus responds to the man in the crowd
by saying this,
man, who made me a judge over you?
And I love that because it's kind of ironic.
In one sense, Jesus is the judge over him.
He's the judge over all creation.
But what he's saying is,
you want me to adjudicate, right,
this conflict in your life,
but that's not what you really need.
And Jesus, as always,
is after this man's heart.
He's like, what you think you need
is your share of the inheritance.
But then he goes for the heart.
Says in verse 15,
take care and be on your guard
against all,
which means every form of,
all covetousness.
For one's life does not consist
in the abundance of his possessions.
And here's where we see the root of this, right?
What's the root cause of dysfunction
when it comes to the relationship
we have with our stuff?
Jesus names it.
It's what the Bible calls covetousness.
And he says,
be on guard against every form of covetousness.
So what this man really needs
is not more money,
it's a different relationship with money.
He needs the entire dynamic changed.
The cause of his dysfunction
is covetousness, as we said,
which is essentially
an inordinate desire
for material things.
Or, put it another way,
an inordinate focus on material things.
Now, sometimes that takes the form of greed.
You know, often you hear the word covetous
and you think of a greedy person.
Now, sometimes that's true.
Sometimes it's, you know,
wanting more money or nicer things.
Sometimes, though,
covetousness takes the form of envy.
It's not so much that I want, like,
you know, this much more money in my account.
I just want more money than him.
You know?
I want a better job than her.
You know, I want a nicer car than those people.
You know, I want a nicer house.
You know, you get your house
and you love your house
and then you go have dinner
at your friend's house.
And then you're like,
I don't like my house anymore.
I need a better house.
Right?
And this is how it works.
Sometimes covetousness takes the form of fear.
Right?
Covetousness can manifest as a constant fear
of not having enough,
a fear of running out.
But however it manifests itself,
the lie under all forms of covetousness is this.
Here's the lie of covetousness.
If I just had more,
then I would arrive.
It's like just over the horizon is satisfaction.
And I'm almost there.
It's like a carrot.
And if I could just get a little more,
if I could just have a little more,
then I will arrive.
Then I'll be okay.
Then I'll be content.
Then I won't want anymore.
If I could just get to here,
then I'll be okay.
That's kind of the lie.
And it just, like a carrot,
it just keeps us going and going and going and going.
You know?
It's like when you're hiking
and you think you get to the top of the mountain
and you come over that hill
and then there's just more trail and more hill.
And you're like, oh.
And then you just keep going, right?
And every time you think you're at the top,
it's like, nah, man, you're just getting started.
Keep climbing.
And that's what covetousness says.
Keep climbing.
You're almost there.
Keep climbing, baby.
You're almost there.
Right?
So this is the source.
So then the question becomes,
what do we do about it?
You know, because we could be idealistic
and say get rid of everything,
but the truth is we need some stuff.
We need some stuff.
We value hospitality.
It's nice to have a home to invite people into
if you value hospitality.
We need a place to live.
We need food.
We need clothing.
Most of you couldn't do your jobs.
I probably couldn't do my job
without a computer and a phone of some kind.
So we need some stuff.
So how do we deal with this?
You can't live in the world without any possessions.
And I would argue that I don't think
there's anywhere in Scripture
that tells us to live in the world
without any possessions.
So what we need is what this man needs.
We need a different relationship with our stuff.
So the cure for our dysfunction
is as we look at this text,
we begin to see where Jesus is pointing our hearts.
And it's essentially this,
that we have to find a way
to change the relationship that we have with our stuff.
And in this passage,
that means at least three things.
Number one,
we have to begin to recognize the truth about our wealth,
recognize the truth about our stuff.
This man who has interrupted Jesus,
who wants his inheritance,
he believes that if he gets more of that inheritance,
then he's going to arrive and be satisfied.
He'll be at the top of the wealth mountain,
and he won't need any more.
And so Jesus responds to this man
by telling a parable about another man
who finally does arrive.
He's like,
let me tell you about a guy
who got where you want to get.
He finally arrived.
Rich man had a great year.
This is the parable.
He ends up with more than he ever knew what to do with.
You can imagine the guy with the inheritance
being like,
that would be so amazing.
I want to be that guy, right?
And so what does this man in the parable decide to do?
Well, he decides to build bigger barns.
He essentially adds to his already bulging retirement account.
He just adds to it.
And he decides that when he looks at his retirement account,
when he looks at the stock market
and everything's trending in the right direction,
he's like,
I can retire early.
And so that's what he does.
And listen to how this man perceives all of his stuff.
In verse 17,
and he thought to himself,
what shall I do?
For I have nowhere to store my crops.
And he said,
I will do this.
I will tear down my barns and build larger ones.
And there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
soul,
you have ample goods laid up for many years.
Relax,
eat,
drink,
be merry.
And you can see the emphasis that Luke is putting in that passage.
Me,
me,
my,
my.
Have you ever seen Brian Regan,
the me monster?
Just Google it.
He's a comedian.
It's hysterical.
Me,
me,
me.
This,
this is that guy.
It's me.
It's mine.
My barns,
my stuff.
And,
you know,
we laugh.
And I love that,
that bit from Brian Regan.
I think it's funny.
And,
and you kind of can sneer at this guy a bit.
But how many of us see our stuff that way?
I mean,
you know,
if I'm totally honest,
I know I do.
And this is really a seed of covetousness,
and this is what Jesus is getting at.
The seed of covetousness is,
this is,
you're living under the illusion that all this stuff belongs to you.
And this parable shatters that illusion like a hammer striking a glass table.
Just bam.
Because God says,
fool.
God says that to you.
It's,
it's not good news.
Fool.
This night,
your soul will be required of you.
And all this stuff,
whose will it be then?
Right?
The truth is,
we're never going to arrive
because none of this stuff belongs to us.
We don't even own our own soul.
Everything,
even your body,
your soul,
belongs to God.
And ultimately,
He has the final word
in what we have
and receive
and what is ultimately taken away from us.
We don't have that kind of say.
And that's a hard truth to swallow,
but it can set us free.
Right?
So this is the first way to begin to gain,
come out of the dysfunction.
We begin to recognize the truth about our stuff.
It doesn't belong to us.
We're never going to arrive.
The second thing
is we begin to learn
how to rest
in God's abundant generosity.
We begin to rest
in God's abundant generosity.
This is where Jesus begins to say,
consider the ravens.
You know,
they're sitting there
and there are ravens,
probably,
and Jesus is pointing to them.
Consider the ravens over there.
They don't plant at all,
and yet God provides for them.
And then He says,
consider the lilies.
They neither toil nor spin,
and yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all His glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
They're more beautiful,
these lilies,
than Solomon ever was.
Now, why the reference to Solomon?
You know, that's interesting.
For a long time,
I didn't pick up
on the significance of that.
But it's actually not by accident.
Solomon spent,
anybody remember,
how many years did Solomon spend
building the temple for God,
the dwelling place
for the Lord to honor God?
How long did he spend
building the temple?
It was seven years.
How long did Solomon spend
building his own house?
Thirteen years.
So how much more time
and energy and sweat
and money
do we pour into
our own security?
Do we pour into
our own lifestyle?
Over and above
the things that we pour
into what God is calling us
to be a part of.
Right?
So this reference
is very deliberate.
And Jesus is saying,
Solomon spent 13 years
building his house.
He only spent seven
building the Lord's house,
and yet,
this lily
growing here in the ground
on the side of the road
is more beautiful
than anything Solomon
ever did.
A scarcity mentality
focuses on what we don't have.
Jesus invites us
into an abundance mindset
where instead of focusing
on what we lack
or think we lack,
we focus on God's
abundant generosity
all around us.
Right?
We begin to notice
and to see the things
that God is doing
in our lives
and the ways He's blessing us
rather than the things
that we think we lack.
And when we begin
to do that,
we begin to understand
how worthy
and valuable
we are to Him.
Right?
So we begin to rest
in God's abundant generosity.
Number three,
way to kind of begin
to right this
dysfunctional relationship
with wealth
is that we begin
to actively cultivate
a lifestyle
of generosity.
Jesus says in verse 33,
sell your possessions,
give to the needy,
provide yourselves
with money bags
that do not grow old
with a treasure
in the heavens
that does not fail.
So He's saying
invest in things
that will last for eternity
rather than ending up
in a trash dump.
Right?
Invest in things
that are meant to last.
You know,
we live in a world
full of things
that have a kind of
engineered obsolescence.
You know,
they're made to break,
they're made to wear out.
Now,
Jesus says a lot of things
in the world are like this,
but not everything.
And in fact,
a lot of this world
is going to be remade.
It's going to be recreated.
And there are many things
in this world
that are meant
to last for eternity.
First and foremost,
human beings.
You're going to last forever.
The people around you
are going to last forever.
These bodies
were made for eternity.
Invest in things
that last.
Invest in things
that will extend
beyond a couple of years
before they become
obsolete.
What we begin to see
is that generosity,
the active aspect
of generosity,
not just thinking
I want to be generous,
but the act
of being generous,
begins to cure
covetousness
in our hearts
because generosity
and covetousness
can't coexist
in the heart.
Every time
you give something away,
it reminds you
that it was never yours
to begin with.
And over time,
those acts of giving
chip away.
They chip away
at that illusion
and that lie.
Right?
So it takes
this kind of active,
repetitive,
habitual generosity.
I know I've told
this story before,
but I've got to tell you
again,
this, you know,
Bill and Aida Spencer,
two of my professors
in seminary
and kind of,
you know,
they were sort of,
I really looked up
to them
as a young Christian
and I remember
this was in Massachusetts
and, you know,
we think it's cold here.
It gets pretty cold
in Massachusetts as well,
sometimes a little colder
than it was this morning.
And imagine living
in weather like this
and the long winters
up there,
living in a house
that's only heated
by a wood stove.
They lived in a house
together,
a tiny little house
that was only heated
by a wood stove.
They've both written books
and all this stuff,
conferences,
that's where they live.
And part of the reason
they lived that way
is because they had committed
when they first got married
to giving as sacrificially
as they could.
And when they started out,
they were students
and they couldn't do much
and so they'd try to give,
you know,
I don't know,
you know,
maybe six,
seven percent of,
because most of what
they were spending
was kind of borrowed
or whatever.
But slowly over time,
they began to increase it.
And when I met them
and was known to them,
they were at a point
where they were giving away
50 percent of everything
they brought in.
You know,
so their whole way
of thinking about tithing,
right,
was how can we increase?
How can we increase?
And so they're living
in a house
as heated by a wood stove
in Massachusetts
because their goal,
their main priority
is to give away
50 percent of everything.
And they were saying,
hopefully in the next few years
we can get that up to 55 percent.
And I just remember thinking
as kind of a young student
living off loans
and couldn't even imagine
that kind of thing,
just being floored by that.
Generosity cures covetousness.
So,
for all of us
who have a dysfunctional
relationship
with our stuff,
and I would definitely
put myself in that camp,
we have to do
something
to right that dysfunction.
And Jesus says,
recognize that nothing
that you have
belongs to you.
It's all God's.
Rest in God's
abundant generosity,
which we see
all around us,
and cultivate a lifestyle
of generosity.
Convert that
into action,
right?
But there's still
something missing.
All of this requires
trust.
At the end of the day,
the real
$64,000 question,
do you trust God enough
to live this way?
Do you trust God enough
to be the owner
of your stuff?
Do you trust God enough
to begin to cultivate
a lifestyle of generosity,
giving things away
that you may never get back?
All of this boils down
to this question,
do I trust God?
Verse 32,
we begin to see
this answer
to this fundamental question
of how do I know
I can trust God?
How do I know?
He says,
fear not,
little flock,
for it is your Father's
good pleasure
to give you
the kingdom.
Now,
earlier he said,
seek the kingdom.
Now he's saying,
but don't worry,
God,
it's his great delight
to give you the kingdom.
Now,
what's that pointing us to?
How could God
take people like us
who have a dysfunctional
relationship with wealth,
who don't trust him,
who live with a scarcity
mentality,
who constantly envy
one another
and compare ourselves
and live this kind of
discontented,
anxious,
fearful lifestyle?
How could God
take people like that
and say,
here's the kingdom,
it's all yours?
Jesus Christ,
to whom
all things belong,
Jesus Christ,
who is the owner
of all things,
willingly gave it all up
and died on the cross
so that God
could give us a place
in his kingdom.
And this right here
is the greatest act
of generosity
in history.
It's not something
that we do for God.
The ultimate act
of generosity
is something that God
has already done
for us
on the cross.
And what this does
in your heart
is this,
if God has freely
and joyfully
given his son,
and if he has freely
and joyfully given
everything necessary
to invite us in
so that we can live
with him
for all of eternity,
how can we not
trust him
to give us
what we need
in this life?
Right?
If he's given us
everything for eternity,
how can I not trust
that he's going to
take care of me
over the next few weeks?
It's all about trust.
You know,
my oldest son
is a great swimmer now,
but I remember
teaching him how to swim.
And we did it in a lake.
And I remember
I was in the water
and there was this dock
and I remember him
coming out on the dock
in his little bathing suit
and he's there,
you know,
kind of shivering
on the dock.
And I held out my arms
and I said,
okay, now I'm going
to count to three
and I want you to jump
and I'm going to catch you.
And he's like,
okay.
And I go,
okay, one, two, three.
And he just stands there
and I say,
I say,
okay,
let's try that again.
One, two, three.
And he's just,
and I said,
hey man,
you know,
you want to jump in?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you trust me?
Oh yeah, yeah.
You trust that I'm going
to catch you?
Yeah, dad,
I trust you, dad.
You sure?
So when you jump,
you know that I'm going
to, as soon as you hit
the water,
your head's not even
going to go
and I'm going to grab you.
Yeah, dad,
I trust you,
I trust you.
Are you ready to jump?
And he's like,
nah,
I don't think so.
Right?
And there's that gap
between saying
you trust somebody
and actually coming
off the dot.
And I would say,
I think trust
doesn't really become
trust until you let
go of the dot.
At some point,
you can say it
all you want,
but at some point
you've got to let go.
And then you're
going to find out.
Then you're going
to find out,
is he going to catch
me or not?
That's when
it becomes trust.
And I think a lot
of us are like that
in our lives.
I've been reflecting
on this.
And,
you know,
I wonder how much
of my life
I am clinging
to the dot.
You know,
and God is sort
of sitting there
in this ocean
of blessing
saying,
come on,
I got you.
And I'm clinging
to the dot.
And I'm praying,
I trust you,
but I'm not
really letting
go.
You know,
I think we want
to trust God,
we love the idea
of trusting God,
but at some point
we've got to let go.
And,
you know,
as we,
I think,
think about this
home campaign,
this image has been
coming into my mind
because I think
in many ways
our church is sort
of standing
on the dock
right now.
You know,
we're like,
man,
we have never
done anything
like this,
we've never
taken a risk
like this,
we've never
made a financial
decision even
close to this.
We've got to
figure out
how long
we're going to
stand on the dock
and at one point
are we going to
let go as a community
and trust that God's
got us,
that He's going to
continue to provide
for us the way He
has for 14 years
since we started
in a living room.
And you know,
14 years ago,
as I said at the
beginning,
we made this
commitment to love
the people of D.C.
long term
for multiple
generations.
and what I've
been amazed at
is to see how
many people
over those 14
years came to
D.C.,
started coming
to Advent
and they thought,
you know,
maybe I'll be
in D.C.
for two,
three,
four years
until the end
of my internship
or the end of,
you know,
the next administration
or something like
that and then
they end up
changing their
plans,
they end up
passing up
job opportunities
to stay
because they feel
God calling them
to make that
commitment.
And I've been
amazed and humbled
by that.
And so,
those people
have decided,
many people
over the years
have decided
to put down
roots.
Now it's time
for our church
to put down
roots.
Now it's time
for us to find
a permanent
home,
which means a
space that we
don't only use
on Sundays
for worship,
but a space
that we use
seven days a
week,
right,
for ministry
to serve
the community
around us,
for discipleship
and formation,
a space that
not only meets
our needs,
but a space
that can be used
to serve
the surrounding
community in
all kinds of
ways.
You know,
as I said,
it's going to be
the biggest
financial decision
we've ever made,
and now we're
sort of standing
on the dock,
and we're looking
at this God
who has provided
for us faithfully
for 14 years,
and we have to
decide,
are we going to
keep clinging
to the dock,
or are we going
to trust God,
let go,
and dive in?
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank
you for your word,
and we thank you
for your provision,
and we thank you
ultimately for the
cross.
And Lord,
as we look to
the cross,
we see not some
requirement that we
have to meet,
not some standard
that we have to
live up to,
Lord,
not some amount
that we have to be
willing to sacrifice
for you.
We see an
unfathomable,
incalculable sacrifice
that you made for us.
Lord,
and I pray that
whatever we do,
and however we move
forward from this day,
I pray that the
wellspring of our
generosity would be
the cross.
I pray that would
be the place where
that living water
pours into us,
and soothes our
fear and anxiety,
and fills us with
trust.
And I pray that
every time we're
tempted to doubt
you, you would
turn our eyes to
the cross and
remind us again
what kind of God
you really are.
We pray this in
your Son's holy name.
Amen.