Good evening, everyone. Great to be in church with you tonight. We're three weeks into our
vision series and three weeks into this new orientation in our church, and there's a whole
heap of benefits, one of which that in preaching now, when I'm not restricted to a particular area,
I've got a headset, I actually worked half a kilometre in preaching at 9.30 this morning,
so it's doing good for my health, hopefully as it is for us as a church as well. Let's pray before
we jump in to vision series number three. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for what you have
been doing in us as a church. We want to pray, Lord, that you'll continue to reform our hearts.
We ask that we might treasure the Lord Jesus above all things. We pray, Lord, now as we look at your
word that it would not just be an intellectual exercise in any sense, Lord, that we would love
you, that we would love your word, that we'd be obedient disciples of yours. Help us to see your
worldview in all things and for our lives to be conformed to it and be shaped by it. Lord, if
there's any call of obedience, may it be a sense of joy, not duty, because of what we have in the Lord
Jesus. So send your spirit now so that we might love what you love and hate what you hate, and we ask
it for your glory. Amen. Possibly the most devastating statistic that comes out of the 20th century
is the fact that Adolf Hitler exterminated six million innocent Jews in concentration camps,
and that's to say nothing of the Poles and the Gypsies and the homosexuals. And what makes this
information far more terrifying is the fact that Hitler did not succeed in his mass murder by himself.
Nor did he recruit thousands of extermination helpers from the planet Mars.
The majority of Hitler's assistants in genocide were recruited from the pews of Germans, Lutheran,
and Roman Catholic churches after they'd been told by their clergy to obey the civil authorities of
their day. And so you've got to ask the question, why did Lutheran and Catholic Nazis go about their
daily routines of extermination? Why didn't they stop? Why didn't they repent? Why didn't they just go,
isn't this different from what we read in the Bible or what we've been doing at church?
And part of the answer is they've been led to believe in a cheapened form of God's grace that
would save them. Now please don't think that this is my interpretation of history. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
was a German theologian who was head of a seminary for the Confessing Church. He was imprisoned by the
Nazis in 1943. He was hanged by them on the 9th of April in 1945 at Flossenberg Concentration Camp,
two weeks before it was liberated by the American troops. And he was at the heart of writing what is
known as the Theological Declaration of Barmen in, it sounds like it's written in a pub, doesn't it?
Theological Declaration of Barmen. He wrote that, it might have been, in 1934 with Karl Barth,
which called Christians in Germany to oppose Hitler's national socialism. And very few actually did.
And it was in this context that in 1937, Bonhoeffer wrote this book called The Cost of Discipleship.
And the first line of the first chapter says, cheap grace is the deadly enemy of the church.
He writes, in such a church, the world finds cheap covering for its sins. No contrition is required,
still has any desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, grace without
discipleship. In other words, grace alone does everything. It's all the work of God.
Everything therefore remains as it was before, Nazi uniform and all, Auschwitz and all.
And Bonhoeffer describes how this cheapening, this preaching of a cheap grace led to German
Christians believing in the 1930s that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour
or so on a Sunday morning to go to church to be assured that my sins are forgiven. One hour,
Sunday morning, Sunday morning, forgiven, off you go back to Auschwitz.
Now, according to Bonhoeffer, this thinking in Germany in the 1930s is that the passage,
like the one that was just read out for us tonight from 2 Corinthians 5 and 6, is not for normal
Christians. This is a passage for the select few like the Apostle Paul and maybe some missionaries.
And Bonhoeffer suggested it's that kind of thinking that was the cancer that made it possible for
Lutherans and Catholic church members to become Nazi guards. And what Bonhoeffer called the church in
Germany to in the 20th century is what the Apostle Paul called the Corinthian church to in the 1st century
is what I would call us to today at St. Paul's in the 21st century. It's 2 Corinthians 6.1.
As God's co-workers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.
Over the past two weeks, I've been unpacking our vision statement.
In view of who we are as a church, we aim to be united in our desperation for the world around us
to encounter Jesus and in our desire to represent the diversity of Chatswood. And I preached on what
unity looks like, unity in Christ. I've looked at what diversity looks like for us and talked about
it last week as a trans-cultural church. And over the next two weeks, I want to focus on that part of
our vision statement that reads, desperation for the world around us to encounter Jesus.
That part of the vision says something about us, which is my focus tonight, and also something about
our world, which I'm going to focus on next week. And what has been put in front of us already in the
last two weeks, and again tonight, is effectively a worldview. And it's a worldview that trumps all other
worldviews. It shapes, clarifies, it defines what we value, what we treasure, how we live,
day by day, 24-7. It is God's vision of all things for all time, and how we fit as part of God's vision
for all things for all time. It's God's global plan, his global agenda. We see it again in 2 Corinthians 5
and 6. And like last week, where we got a graphic picture of the end of all things from Romans 5,
we get a similar end of picture, graphic picture of the end of all time in 2 Corinthians 5.10. Look at it.
This is how... Open your Bibles. That'd be great if you haven't got your Bibles open. 2 Corinthians 5
verses 10 to 6.10.
This reveals, 2 Corinthians 5.10 reveals how high the stakes are for people right now.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him
for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. That is, what that's clearly saying is
that God will hold all people accountable for their life. Notice that the judgment seat of Christ here
is universal. We must all appear. That's everyone. No exceptions. And notice too that while it is
everyone, we will all be judged individually. Each one must give an account. Each life will be exposed
for what it is. And my mates and my family and everyone else is not going to be there saying,
oh, come on, give him a break. Romans 2 verses 5 to 11 gives a vivid account of what that day will look
like. It says, because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath
against yourself for the day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
God will give to each person according to what he has done. And then we read
that there are only two outcomes for the final reckoning with the Lord Jesus. It's in verse 7 of
Romans 2. It says, to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality,
he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking who reject the truth and follow evil,
there will be wrath and anger, there will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil,
first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good.
See the description there? The description is stubbornness and your unrepentant heart,
self-seeking, and you reject the truth and follow evil. That is a great description of what the Bible
refers to as sin. Sin is a universal problem. Sin is not just for the bad people of this world,
the criminals, the axe-wielding people. It's a problem here for the clean, middle-class people
who are deeply committed to their nice boy and good girl wickedness of pride and unbelief and indifference
and ingratitude and impurity and greed and comfort and personal ambition.
Romans 3 says that everyone has sinned and has fallen short of what God requires of us.
And the terrible consequences of that kind of life is what Romans 2 verse 8 calls wrath and anger.
And let me tell you, you go to any commentary, you go to any sermon on this,
on what wrath and anger looks like, and there is no one, no one, who has ever overstated the terrors
of what those words mean.
You see, Paul painted a picture of eternal life in the first part of Romans,
sorry, in the first part of 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1 to 9.
And eternal life is infinitely wonderful to imagine.
Eternal life of the presence of Jesus is infinitely beautiful to contemplate.
And if eternal life with God is the most glorious reality that you could ever imagine,
eternal life without God is the most appalling reality that you can ever imagine.
It is a Holocaust.
I remember watching Band of Brothers, it's a war thing, World War II,
and I remember the scene, the most gripping, gripping part of the whole series for me
was when they, the American troops, walked into a concentration camp
and liberated the concentration camp.
It's a TV series, right?
They were so graphic in revealing, trying to capture the horror of the American soldiers
walking in liberating concentration camp.
I remember watching the scene, and I remember bursting into tears as I watched it,
realising this is a graphic picture of what happened in real life.
And even that doesn't grip what this wrath and anger looks like.
Revelation 4.11 is probably the most graphic New Testament statement
of the eternal suffering of the unrepentant sinner.
It says,
And so Paul writes in verse 11,
Now, the fear of God is a right motivation, but it isn't our only motivation.
You see, the fear of hell and of God doesn't actually give proof that you actually treasure Jesus,
that you actually love God.
But we do not, but if we do not believe in our hearts,
the awful truth of the enmity that exists between us and God,
and all its terrifying consequences, that God will hold us accountable for that,
and his judgment will be right, it will be true,
then I believe, with Bonhoeffer, that our love for Christ will be shallow,
and it will be flawed.
Without the fear, my love for Christ will be taken for granted,
it will be passionless,
and my entry into all the joys of the eternal kingdom,
into the presence of God in heaven,
will just be the next thing I expect him to do for me.
That is, without the fear, cheap grace is the result.
And so friends, may we believe and feel the horror of eternal condemnation,
and may we flee from it into the loving arms of Jesus,
where there is no condemnation.
And so what follows from here is,
are verses that are rich in the wonder of God's love for us,
and his plan of redemption of all things in Jesus.
Verse 18, 2 Corinthians 5, 18,
God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.
And again in verse 19,
God was reconciled the world to himself in Christ.
To reconcile is to render two parties to be no longer opposed to each other.
It is to win over from hostility into friendship.
It is to make two opposites consistent and compatible.
And these verses say that it is God who has done that.
He has taken the initiative to reconcile us to himself.
It's the work of God.
Verse 18, all this is from God.
Verse 19, God was reconciling the world to himself.
Again, verse 21,
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.
The initiative, the momentum, the purpose of reconciliation are all from God.
Does God here, does something about the sin that causes the enmity between us,
that causes the division?
And verse 19 is a preliminary explanation of how the reconciliation is brought about.
It says, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting men's sins against them.
How is that possible?
How is it possible that God would not count our sins against us?
He's not just going to ignore it.
That wouldn't be righteous.
It wouldn't be right.
It wouldn't be fair if he just ignored it.
And so verse 21 describes how it's possible that God doesn't count our sins against us.
It says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In other words, there's a swap that's happened.
This is a picture of an account book.
Verse 21 says that my sin is not put to my account,
but put to Jesus' account instead.
My account of sin, my record of sin has been put by God
to the account of his sinless son,
and Jesus has taken my place,
and he's borne my sins on his body on the cross.
It means that he's been judged in my place.
He was made sin.
The sin of the world has been placed by God onto his son, the Lord Jesus.
And not only is my sin placed to Jesus,
but his perfect, unblemished record has been put into my account.
I cannot be condemned because there is no debt.
There's nothing.
I'm not guilty.
It's like I woke up this morning,
and my bank balances,
which got a whole lot of red there all over the place,
and all of a sudden I wake up
and I've got billions of dollars to my name.
I look at the account.
It's like, it's ridiculous.
It's got Steve Jeffrey written on top of it.
That's not right.
The bank's made a mistake,
and Gina Reinhart wakes up this morning and goes,
what the?
Where did it all go?
No.
The accounts are being swapped,
and it's not a mistake.
It's a deliberate plan of God.
That's what happens when you become a Christian.
You bring all of your sin and your moral bankruptcy to him,
and he receives them,
and he counts them to his son, the Lord Jesus.
And Jesus' perfect record is given to me.
I have perfect standing with God.
And the reconciliation of the world to God
happens through the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
The word world in verse 19 is staggering,
and let's not forget about this point.
It says that what God did through the death of his son
on a hill just outside the city walls of Jerusalem around AD 33
concerns the reconciliation of the whole world to its maker.
That is the extraordinary claim of the New Testament.
It is the claim of verses 14 and 15.
We are convinced that one died for all,
and therefore all died,
and he died for all.
Jesus' death and resurrection has universal significance.
It crosses all generations and all cultures.
You don't need anything more than Jesus,
but you can't have anything less than Jesus.
Understand what that passage is saying.
We are convinced that one died for all,
and therefore all died,
and he died for all.
In other words,
he's not one way to get to God.
He is the way to get to God.
There is no reconciliation without God
outside the person of Jesus.
The religions of the world
are just not another form
at all.
There is only one way.
It's an exclusive claim here.
Everyone needs to receive the benefit of reconciliation
to God through the Lord Jesus.
And can I just say,
if you're someone sitting here right now
in this room,
and if you're someone who does not trust
in the Lord Jesus,
then I want to say,
suggest to you that the stakes
could not be high for you right now.
It says in chapter 6,
2 Corinthians 6, verse 2,
now is the time of God's favor,
now is the day of salvation.
So I want to implore you,
as the Apostle Paul does here,
to be reconciled to God
through Jesus tonight.
Tomorrow is the devil's timing.
God's timing is,
right now,
is the day of salvation.
If that's you,
I'd love to talk to you tonight
after the service.
I'd love to do that.
Now,
that's the message of reconciliation,
is what God has done
and can only do
through the person of the Lord Jesus.
This message reorientates
and changes the course of your life.
Those who receive
the message of reconciliation
are now given
the ministry of reconciliation.
And this is what God
can only do through us.
Okay?
Message of reconciliation
is what God does through Jesus
and only through Jesus.
The ministry of reconciliation
is what God does through us
and only through us.
And the stakes
couldn't be high for us too.
God calls those
who are reconciled to God
to attend to this matter,
to be desperate
for the world around us
to encounter Jesus.
Verse 20,
we are therefore Christ's ambassadors
as though God
were making his appeal
through us.
Verse 18,
all this is from God
who reconciled us to himself
through Christ
and gave us
the ministry
of reconciliation.
The ministry is given to us,
not Christ,
not the angels.
Verse 19,
and he committed to us
the message of reconciliation.
That's given to us,
not Christ,
not the angels.
Verse 20,
again,
we are therefore Christ's ambassadors.
God were making his appeal
through us.
He does it through us.
Not Christ,
not the angels.
Verse 20,
he makes,
verse 20 makes our ministry
very clear.
We are Christ's ambassadors.
Now,
our ambassador's job
is a really distinguished one.
We speak
and we behave
on behalf
of a sovereign power.
We represent
a sovereign power
and the honor
of that sovereign power
is at stake.
We do not make up
what we want to say
and what we want to do
as an ambassador.
And that is
an overwhelming thought.
In his death,
Jesus represented us.
In his absence,
we represent him.
And so,
if you've received
the message of reconciliation,
you then have
the responsibility
of the ministry
of reconciliation.
See the connection
in verse 15
of 2 Corinthians 5?
He,
that's Christ,
died for all
that those who live
should no longer
live for themselves
but for him
who died for them
and was raised again.
As a recipient
of the message
of reconciliation,
my whole life
is now
redeployed
to the diplomatic service.
I speak
and I live
in such a way
that Jesus
looks like
the magnificent treasure
that he actually is.
and this means
that those
to whom
we represent
Jesus
individually,
wherever we work,
our families
and connections
and whatever it is,
but also for us,
corporate as a church
here in this community,
they make their judgment
about Jesus
by what they observe
in us.
And so,
I'm convinced
that the ministry
of reconciliation
cannot be exercised
in a detached
or a cold manner.
The language
that is used
here in 2 Corinthians
is deeply emotional
and passionate.
Appeal,
implore,
persuade
and that's why
we have deliberately
included the word
desperate
in our vision statement.
It's an emotive word.
It's meant to be
an emotive word.
We are meant
to feel something
in such a way
that we are,
we are meant to,
when we read
that statement,
meant to feel something,
it meant to drive us,
to move us
in some direction
and it's just as emotive,
if not quite as emotive,
as what I wrote
in our core value
of local and global impact
back in 2009.
If you get the
Vision 2020 booklet
and look like,
read it down,
you will read
something like this.
In fact,
you'll read exactly this.
As a church,
we are committed
to the whole church
pursuing a
wartime mindset,
relating to the
Holocaust
of perishing people
and the use
of our resources.
That's why
the Apostle Paul
says,
I don't regard
anyone from a
worldly point of view
anymore.
He sees the horror,
the reality
of what people
are confronted
with in Jesus.
When you see yourself
as an ambassador
to the Lord Jesus,
chapter 5,
verse 20,
and as God's
co-worker
in chapter 6,
1,
I think there's
an inevitable
drivenness
about our service.
And I think
that if you are
casual,
if you are laid
back,
if you are
comfortable,
if you're happy
just to meander,
to cruise,
to warn,
to dawdle,
then I would
encourage you
to take another
look at the
grace of God
to you.
And have you
embraced a
cheap grace?
look at
Paul's lifestyle
here in
verses 3 to
10.
This is the
lifestyle of a
desperate
ambassador
who is the
honour of his
great treasure,
the Lord and
Saviour,
is at stake.
It's a lifestyle
that commends the
greatness and the
glory and the
wonder of the
Lord Jesus
to the world.
And this is the
lifestyle of
ambassadors.
So when you
read through this
list, you
ought not have
the High
Commissioner to
New Zealand
in mind when
you think about
your diplomatic
service.
Think about
diplomatic service
you're working
for President
Trump in a
hostile Muslim
environment.
Think about
that, or maybe
Mexico.
Think about
that, the
difficulty
associated with
that.
So it says
in verse 4,
chapter 6,
rather, he
says, rather
than being a
stumbling block
and discrediting
the ministry
and of the
Lord Jesus,
he says,
rather as
servants of God,
we commend
ourselves in
every way,
in great
endurance, in
trouble, in
hardships, in
distresses, in
beatings, in
imprisonments, in
riots, in
hard work,
sleepless nights,
in hunger, in
purity, understanding
patience and
kindness, in the
Holy Spirit, in
sincere love, in
truthful speech, and
in the power of
God, with weapons
of righteousness, in
the right hand, and
in the left.
In other words, the
Apostle Paul is
saying, when you
have reconciliation
with God, through
Jesus, you can
lose everything
with joy.
It's all joy.
Let me take you to
the bulletin
blurb.
This is in your
vision booklet, and
I know you've all
read it, but let me
just show it to you
again.
I quote from John
Stott's book, The
Radical Disciple, and
this is what he
wrote.
This is the last
book that John, not
this book, sorry,
Radical Disciple is
the last book that
John Stott wrote,
after a long and
stellar ministry.
He says, Christianity
offers life, eternal
life, life to the
full, but it makes it
plain that the road
to life is death.
Life through death
is one of the
profoundest paradoxes
in both the
Christian faith and
the Christian life.
The radical,
biblical perspective
is to see death not
as the termination of
life, but as the
gateway to life.
In short, the
Bible promises life
through death, and
it promises life on
no other terms.
What we are doing in
this vision series, as
we do every vision
series, is I'm asking
St. Paul's to die a
little more to self.
That's what we're
doing.
And the paradox of
this life through
death has profound
implications for the
life of discipleship,
and Jesus himself
puts it even more
bluntly than John
Stott, when he
says, then he
called the crowd to
him along with his
disciples, and he
said, whoever wants
to be my disciple must
deny themselves, take
up their cross, and
follow me, for whoever
wants to save their
life will lose it.
whoever wants to lose
their life for me and
the gospel will save
it.
The condemned
criminal on the way to
execution is the
dramatic image that
Jesus chose to help
his disciples to
understand what it
meant to be his
disciple, what it
meant to be his
follower.
What he expects of
those who call on
his name.
And Dietrich Bonhoeffer
wrote in the Cost of
Discipleship, when
Christ calls a man, he
bids him to come and
die.
Now, Jesus' words here
about, which is the
same as Bonhoeffer, about
saving and losing our
life, is not restricted
to martyrdom, although
throughout church
history it has been
that.
But the word life
there equals self.
And so to paraphrase
Jesus a little bit,
it would be something
like this, whoever is
determined to hold on to
themselves and to live
for themselves, will
lose themselves.
But whoever is willing
to die to lose
themselves, to give
themselves away in the
service of Christ and in
the gospel will, in that
moment of complete
abandon,
they will find
themselves.
And they will discover
their true identity and
their deepest satisfaction
and joy.
You see, Jesus promises
true self-discovery at the
cost of self-denial.
True life at the cost of
death.
That's what 2 Corinthians
5.15 says.
Jesus died for all, that
those who live should no
longer live for themselves,
but for him who died for
them and was raised again.
That we might no longer live
for ourselves.
In other words, as Jesus
says,
you,
when you embrace Jesus,
you cannot serve something
else.
That Matthew 6 reading,
you cannot serve two
masters.
You cannot be
the diplomatic service
for two sovereigns.
So let me just, there's
masses of implications for
this, for us, to do with
our idols, and we're going
to get to that in a moment.
But one of the biggest
sovereigns, one of the
biggest treasures, one of
the biggest masters that
competes with Jesus for
our allegiance in a
materialistic Western
society is money.
In fact, Jesus was
explicit with it in Matthew
6, before there was a
materialistic Western
society.
He says, you cannot serve
both God and money.
Jesus could have picked a
billion things, but he
chose money as the rival
affection for our hearts
and our allegiance.
He put money up there as
the major alternative
treasure and affection
for our heart.
The alternative God to
be worshipped, the
alternative God to idol
that demands our
allegiance.
Money has a hole in us
because we trust it to
deliver what only God can
deliver to us.
Purpose, significance,
worth, identity, and
that's why it captures our
hearts so much.
It is so easy for us to
give our money to what is
our Savior, what is our
Lord, what is our hope,
what is our happiness, our
meaning, our significance,
our security, our identity.
My ongoing battle, I've told
you this many, many times, my
ongoing battle is the temple
called Bunnings.
I find it terribly easy to
pay homage there too often
with my money in exchange for
tools or things that I can use
my tools on.
Why is that?
It's because my identity, part
of my connection is a sense of
identity for me about being
useful and practical.
That's a real issue.
That's the idol.
I was affirmed as a young
person in skills that I had to
do things practical and to
work hard.
And so I find it easy to spend
money on what fuels that part of
my identity.
Now, some of you think of
Bunnings and go, Bunnings.
I mean, I've convinced my girls
it's the greatest shop in the
world.
But there are other things.
Let me tell you that goes even
slightly deeper and slightly more
personal for me.
When I was in my early stages of a
teenager, someone said something,
someone very close to my heart,
someone who I tried to get
approval from in one way or
another, said something
incredibly derogatory about me,
about my appearance.
And I still remember where I was.
This is a long time ago, in early
teens.
It was a long time ago for me.
I mean, I'm forgetting all sorts of
stuff, but I don't forget this one.
I can still remember where I was.
I can still remember the tone in
which they said it.
And I can still remember how I felt
when they said it.
And that means that if I'm not careful,
I can spend an enormous amount of money,
easily drop money on things to do with my
identity.
Sorry, about my appearance.
Easy to spend money on my appearance.
Even back in the days, it's seen me go from a
progression from a flanny wearing, you know,
Bogan country guy to wearing pink shirts.
There's been a transition for me.
I used to, even when I worked,
even when I wore a uniform to work for the
national parks many, many years ago,
I used to get comments from people about how I
used to wear the uniform compared to how everyone
else used to wear the uniform.
I was concerned about how I looked because
something cut me deep in terms of my identity.
And so it's very easy for me to spend money where my
identity and my idol's attached.
And so the question is, is, sorry, and it is for you too.
I'm just giving you an example.
It is for you too.
If you're someone who says, well, I don't spend any
money at all, you know, I hang my tea bags on the,
you know, clothesline to dry them out so I can reuse
them.
You know, you're really, really frugal.
You squirrel all your money away in investments and stuff
like that.
You have an idolatry that has to do with security.
You want to control your world via your investments.
So security is your idol.
You have the same issue, just a different idol.
So the question is, is my identity wrapped up in Christ
or in who I am in him or because of people think I'm
useful, practical in the way that I dress or my appearance
in some kind of way?
Well, in one level, it's both, which is why the battle
rages for me.
Every time I go to Bunnings, every time I go down to
Westfield, the battle rages for me in a way that it doesn't
rage for me, as I've said before, if I go into spotlight.
There's no battle for me there.
I'm not tempted to part with my money in spotlight.
It's just not me.
For some of you, it will be the bookstore or for your education.
I know people who finish one degree and do another degree and then finish that degree
and just keep going on and on and on with education.
And they buy libraries and libraries of books and resources because at some point in their
life, they've been made to feel stupid.
So there's identity wrapped up in there and so they'll throw money at trying not to be made
to feel stupid.
For some of us, it's philanthropy because you've been affirmed in giving money away.
And so ironically, the very thing that I'm calling you to do tonight is the thing that
might challenge your idol or affirm your idol.
Well, the point is what I'm saying is that money reveals what we truly treasure.
And it seems to me that if we do not have the freedom to joyfully give our money away
in eye-popping proportions, it's because something besides Jesus is our functional Lord and Savior.
We're giving our money to some other God, some other Savior, some other Lord.
And so how do we break the power that money has over us?
Is to see the gospel of the Lord Jesus, see everything that we have in him and to realize
the thing that we're putting our money into will not give us the very thing that we need.
You can have all the money in the world, a GFC here, so you don't have security.
Jesus offers you security for eternity.
He's the one who gives you what you need.
Radical generosity is not a different subject than knowing and being known by God through
the Lord Jesus.
Radical generosity is a value that displays the wonder of the gospel.
Paul puts it like this in 2 Corinthians 8, a couple of chapters later than what we've been
looking at.
The Corinthians are failing to follow through in their commitment to raise money for ministry.
And he says, see that you also excel in the grace of giving.
I'm not commanding you, but I want a test and sincerity of your love.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich here, for your sakes
he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Every single person sitting in this room tonight has set their heart on something.
And whatever it is, you will do anything for it, you will pay any cost for it, anything
to maintain it, sustain it, reclaim it.
And Jesus Christ came and died for us.
And why would he do that?
At least one answer is that you and I are his heart's treasure.
Every other treasure in this world will insist that you die, that you purchase it, that you
sacrifice in order to obtain it.
I have spent copious amount of money in Bunnings over a very long time.
And before that it was Mitre 10.
Over a very, very long time.
Very, very long time.
And in clothing stores.
Over a very, very long time.
And not one single cent that I've spent has ever, ever dealt with the identity issue.
Ever.
Every other treasure will insist that you keep purchasing, that you keep sacrificing in order
to give you what it cannot give you.
And Jesus is the only treasure that died to purchase us.
And so the way that we break the hold of money over our lives and the other treasures and
the idols of our lives is to think about the radical generosity of Christ to us.
To dwell on the infinite value of Jesus until we get the freedom to joyfully give generously.
And when we see Jesus dying on the cross because he so loved the world, that he so loved you,
then only then and only then will we love him.
When we see that we are his greatest treasure, then he will become our greatest treasure.
And the advice of the Apostle Paul here is don't sit down with a calculator.
Sit down with the cross.
Think about Jesus.
What he did, what he's given, what he has promised until it causes us to be generous like he is generous.
Now let me tell you, this is so essential for us on a very practical level right now as a church.
For us all to grapple with.
The vast majority, the financial resources of this church come from 20% of our people.
And when I say vast resources, I mean the vast.
20%.
We are heavily weighted to a very small portion of people.
And that's why I do not believe that the 12% increase of giving that we're looking for for next year,
that's just to pay the bills that we currently got.
Or the 70,000 that Jimmy told us about that we're seeking to raise next week,
I don't believe either of those goals are impossible.
Why?
Because we've already got the money.
That's the good news.
The bad news is it's in your pockets and wallets and bank accounts.
That's the bad news.
All it would take is for the majority of us to be captured by God's vision of all things
and for Jesus to be our greatest treasure.
And so here's what you do in the next week.
is as we head towards Vision Sunday,
is to get your Vision Series devotion, devotion booklet.
I'm so grateful for Sam for putting these together.
And what I want to encourage you to do is to grab this,
go to number 1, 12, 13, 14, and 15.
Five in the next seven days.
1, 12, 13, 14, and 15.
Pour over them.
Pray over them.
And having done that, plan to take one step further in treasuring Jesus.
I'm asking you, as a church, to take one further step to dying to self.
That's it.
If you're currently not giving, start giving.
If you're a regular giver, start giving regularly.
If you're a regular giver, but you're only giving a really small portion of your income,
which is standard practice across churches in our country,
take a step towards getting into God's ballpark of the 10% at least.
And if you're a regular and you're a proportional giver,
take a step towards extravagant giving beyond 10%.
I don't believe it's ever meant to be a limiter.
I think it's meant to be a starting point.
I firmly believe that our experience in giving will be joy
when we see and we savour Jesus as our greatest treasure.
And I believe the way we do it is by making things like,
passages like Philippians 3, 7 to 8, more and more real for us.
In my words again,
Yeah, I love that last bit.
I have suffered the loss of all things.
He's not moping about it.
He's saying, actually, they're rubbish.
In order that I might gain more and more and treasure Jesus more and more.
We are united in our desperation for the world around us to encounter Jesus.