Week 9 | The Treasure Trap

cold until one day my son he tells me he's like mom I'm getting really cold and then my heart dropped so I had to choose between saving up for a car or getting them jackets. I literally told God I was like God like you gotta help me out I don't know how I don't know what you've got you can do but I was like I really need you right now and you know I started telling him about my boys and stuff like that he's like wow you come walking like every day from their school I'm like yeah he's like how do you do it though like that's my question how do you do it with a smile and that's when I kind of like told him I was like God has provided such peace in my life right now that I am okay you know so I honestly give credit to God he told me about him going on Willow Creek and he was a volunteer there I was like no you're lying he's like yes I volunteer at Willow Creek at the care center I was like I go to the care center okay that's a little too much of a coincidence and I don't believe in coincidence. I think a week or two later I was able to meet with Scott he said hey I really am moved by God to do something about your transportation so Scott told me that the care center was able to partner up with Christian Brothers Automotive to get me the car when I got the car I felt like I was dreaming I kept looking I'm like no you guys are lying like this is not my car I could not believe I kept looking around everybody and I was like this is not my car I went to go visit my mom and I was like I gotta show you something I was like my dad got me something and she's like your dad I was like yeah it's my dad and I was like pointing at God. God's family was there and it's not necessarily by like earthly blood but by heavenly blood and you know just allowing God to maneuver my life change my life and guide me is what made all of this happen I didn't take the wheel I just was sitting on the cruise I mean I love stories of generosity and Jennifer is actually here with us so grateful that you're here thanks for sharing your story with us I hope you I hope you were inspired by her faith I mean amidst such difficulty she never lost sight of where her faith and her hope was at and I just want to say thanks for inspiring all of us to make sure that no matter

what we're facing that our hope is only in God and I pray that her story really spoke to you in a meaningful way Scott is also here with us the video mentioned a little bit about this volunteer who just saw a need I was talking to Scott a little bit earlier and it's kind of amazing you just was you know around he saw this young woman at a bus stop and he goes I just felt this prompting and that prompting was from God and it's amazing when you just obey the promptings of God what God will do beyond our wildest imagination so thanks for your faithfulness and just helping be a part of stewarding such a really beautiful and powerful story for the last few weeks we've been in this series we've been calling the Jesus Way and we've been walking through the Sermon on the Mount Jesus most famous message that's recorded for us in the book of Matthew chapter 5 6 & 7 and so we're now in Matthew chapter 6 if you got a Bible you can turn there I'll meet you there in just a moment I thought I would show you a little skill that I didn't really know that I had that I'm kind of proud of and there is this board that you see here it's only like 5-6 inches wide and look I mean with ease people not only can I go forward if I'm really careful I can go backward oh I can go backward right and if I'm really careful I know what you're thinking look out Simone Biles is what you're thinking right now what's interesting is I can walk forward I can walk backward I can do terrible turns now how can I do that with such confidence because the board is sitting on the ground right if you took the exact same board and you put it 70 stories up in the air between two Chicago skyscrapers how well would Pastor Sean be doing now I'm pretty certain I would not leave the safety of that building to even take a step on this board now when it's on the ground I got all the confidence in the world I can go forward I can go backward I can do a twist and turn if it's 70 floors in the air I'm not even getting out of my into scoot across the thing because 70 floors in the air I'm full of anxiety I'm full of fear I don't have the confidence to steward that in the right way.

Now why do I give this illustration? Because all throughout the series we're talking about the Jesus way. What the Jesus way is, oftentimes it's very counterintuitive. It's not logical. It's upside down thinking. It's not what we would have imagined. But if we really base our life on the promises of Jesus, our life gets really grounded. Our life can be secure. We don't have to live in fear and anxiety. We can live in the security and the confidence. Our life is on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. Now here's the reality. Today we're gonna talk about something that for a lot of us is going to be challenging. For a lot of us, you're gonna have some resistance in your heart and you're gonna go, I don't know about that, Sean. But here's the reality. These are Jesus words. They are challenging words, but they're gonna challenge us to trade the 74, a 70 floor living that sometimes fills our lives with anxiety and fear and tries to take it down and build our life on the foundation that is the way of Jesus. You with me? All right.

Here we are in Matthew 6 and Jesus is gonna tackle the thing that we don't like to talk about. For a lot of us, we'll talk about every aspect of life. This is the area that we don't really like to talk about. And that is our money. Jesus talks about our money. Now what's interesting is it's actually Jesus' most frequent topic of conversation. He talks about money more than prayer. He talks about money more than heaven. He talks about it about 25% of his words and parables are actually pointed toward money. If I talked about money one out of every four weeks, you wouldn't come to church here anymore, right? That's too much. But Jesus was really interested in talking about it, not because he wanted something from us, it's actually because he wanted something for us. Because if we're not careful when it comes to money and how we manage money, it can actually be something that creates a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear. We live life at the 70th floor. And Jesus says, I want you to trust me. It will feel counterintuitive. It will feel illogical. But if you build your life on the foundation that is found in Jesus, it's actually where peace and freedom and hope are found. As we're gonna be in the book of Matthew 6,

here's kind of the big idea of where we're headed today is simply this, that where we put our treasure determines what sort of people we become. So with that in mind, Matthew chapter six, here's the first principle that I think that Jesus wants us to lean in. I think that he would say this, your treasure actually trains your heart. He gets at it, verse 19, Matthew chapter six, Jesus' words. He says, do not store it for yourself. Treasures on earth where moths and rust and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Now what he's getting at is in the first century, wealth was oftentimes monetized through things like clothing, things like grain that was in storage areas, things like metal that was kept. And Jesus is talking about the reality of the lack of security that's in material wealth in our world. He's like, when it comes to clothes, moths can destroy that. When it comes to the grain, vermins can eat it. When it comes to the metal, thieves can take it. Do you understand that when it comes to the earthly treasures of this world, there's actually nothing certain about them. Now, if Jesus were given the same message today, he might say, don't store it for yourself, treasures on earth, because the stock market is not always reliable, because your bank account doesn't always tell the full story,

because your 401k doesn't paint the whole picture. So he's basically saying, don't put all of your trust in those things. Now, what he's not saying is that saving is bad. Now, there's actually elsewhere in scripture that the Bible talks a lot about other biblical principles around money. There's actually a lot of wisdom around living below your means, and putting some aside in savings, and investing in the future. He would be certainly an advocate for that. But what he's getting at is, don't put your trust in earthly things. He says, instead, I want you to store up for yourself treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, where thieves do not break into steel. And so the treasures in heaven, what is that? So basically what Jesus is saying is that, we need to be people who take at least a portion of what God is entrusted with, and invest it in such a way that it has an eternal impact. In other words, when I invest in God, in the things of God, in the mission of God, it actually has an eternal impact. When I invest in character development, when I invest in loving to other people, that's the stuff that no moth, no vermin, no thief can ever take away, because it's held in eternity. And so Jesus says, make sure that a part of what you're entrusted with is pointed

toward heavenly things, because that's where our trust needs to be. And then he says this really challenging line, that if it doesn't mess with me, you're not reading it right. It messes with me. Here's what Jesus says. for wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus draws this undeniable connection between the treasure that we manage and the heart that's within us. And those are undeniably connected together. That wherever we place our treasure, our heart immediately goes to. And you and I know that's true, right? Because maybe there's a company that we don't know anything about, but somebody gave us a stock tip, right? And so maybe we don't know anything about the company, but the moment we take a sum of money and we invest it in that stock, all of a sudden, I care about that company. I care about their performance. I'm checking the stock ticker on a consistent basis. Why? Because wherever I put my treasure, my heart starts caring. And so Jesus says the same is true when it comes to the things of God and eternal things.

Part of the reason why God compels us to give is not because God needs something from us. God already owns everything. God doesn't need anything from us. But when we give of our earthly resources to eternal things, our heart starts bending toward and caring for the things of God. But I would take it a step further. Not only does our treasure follow our heart, I think our treasure actually shapes our heart. Let me push you in this way. How many for you that there's something in your life that your money flows very freely toward that thing? I think that's probably true for all of us. The thing may be a little bit different for me. I'm a pretty stingy person, but I would like to think I'm selectively stingy. Because there are certain things that my money flows very freely to. I don't even think about it. So some of you know, I'm a runner. So when it comes to a brand new pair of running shoes, I don't care how stingy I am with everything else. My money flows pretty freely toward a new pair of running shoes. Or if there's a international race or race that I really wanna do, I could say like, I don't have any money. But all of a sudden I find money when it comes to doing that kind of thing.

Because there's something about it that I love to do. And so there's this connection between my heart and my treasure. But here's what I have to be very aware of. That thing that my money flows very easily toward has an ability to actually shape my heart. What's true about my hobby and probably any of our hobbies, when we get overly invested in it, it actually shapes us. We can sometimes misprioritize it. It actually pushes out things that actually matter more. Like if I'm not careful when it comes to running, I can get so consumed about it that it actually pushes out people and pushes out situations that are actually more important. I've noticed that sometimes when people's hobby is golf, when people's hobby is cars, it's totally fine to have a hobby. I hope you have a hobby that you love. But we gotta really be careful is, when we put our treasure somewhere, it has this ability to actually shape us and to actually form us. Mark Powell says it this way. I thought this quote was really, really challenging for me. He says that Jesus' point is not that where we put our treasure reveals what kind of person we are, but rather where we put our treasure determines what kind of people we become. And that's what Jesus is getting at.

That when we make decisions that are financially related, they actually have an impact on who we are and who we become. Because there's an undeniable connection between our treasure and our heart. Jesus is not as interested in our treasure. He's very interested in what's connected to it. He's very interested in our heart. And so he pushes this kind of to the next level. I would say this when it comes to Jesus' teaching, I would say this, we've gotta be people who learn to trust his promises more than our impulses. I don't know about you, sometimes I can be impulsive when it comes to financial decision-making. And sometimes my impulsive decisions, I get what's called buyer's remorse. You've ever experienced that? That I'm like, ah, dog, like I made that impulsive decision and I somewhat regretted it. Now I've got this debt that I gotta manage and feel the weight of it, so on and so forth. And so what Jesus is getting at is we got to be people who don't just trust our impulses. That will keep us on the 70th floor with our world being full of anxiety and pressure

and fear related to this topic. Instead, we've got to be people that trust Jesus to put that board on the floor and be grounded on who he is and what he tells us to do. So let us be people who recognize that our treasure actually shapes who we become. I think this second principle is also true, that your vision reveals your allegiance. Like how you see things reveals where your allegiance lies. Jesus is gonna say something that at first glance you're like, what the heck does that mean? I'll read it for you and then we'll unpack it a little bit. Jesus says, the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then, the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Thanks, Jesus. What does that mean? This is actually where a hard copy of the Bible will serve you. I don't know how you read scripture. Oftentimes I'm reading on the YouVersion Bible app, I'm reading on our app. I oftentimes read the Bible digitally.

This is one of those moments that a hard copy of the Bible will help you understand this. If you take the two underlined words and you look at a hard copy of the Bible, you will actually see a footnote. The footnote helps explain it, really helpful. So when it comes to the word healthy, if you read the footnote, the footnote says, the Greek for healthy here implies generous. If you look at the footnote for unhealthy, it says the Greek for unhealthy implies stingy. So here's what Jesus is saying. There's a way in which we see the world. If for some of us, we see the world in a healthy way, and I would say we have a perspective of abundance, that we would recognize that God's a good God, God wants to take care of his kids, that there's never a need that I have that God won't meet. I can see the world with abundance, that there's enough for everybody, that I can be okay, that God will ultimately take care of me. I can see the world through this healthy eye. For others of us, I would say we have a scarcity mentality. It's just the way we see the world. And the way we see the world is that there's not enough, and it's kind of this dog-eat-dog type of world, and if I don't get what's mine, then I'm not gonna have it, or maybe we'll think to ourselves, I can't give, because if I give, that puts me at risk. I can't actually do it,

because we kind of have a scarcity way to think, and Jesus describes that as an unhealthy way to actually see the world. Now, I do have a lot of compassion for those of us who see the world through a scarcity lens, because the truth is, maybe you got there because of your own experience. For some of us, we grew up in a home where, we grew up in a home that we were in a poverty-stricken environment, that we didn't know where our next meal was gonna come from. We didn't know if we were going to be okay, and because of that, that really formed us. It changes how we see the world. For others of us, maybe we have, unfortunately, experienced bankruptcy at some point in our life. And if that's your story, and you experienced the very difficult reality of a bankruptcy, it causes you to see the world different. It's not surprising that you potentially have a scarcity mentality. For others of us, we have a scarcity mentality because we went to business school. And I say that a little tongue-in-cheek, but the reality of it is, I've got a good buddy who's a fantastic businessman, business owner, and I was describing the scarcity mentality of this dog-eat-dog type of world. There's not enough for everybody.

You gotta take what's yours, and he goes, man, I learned that in business school. That's just how I was trained to think. And so I think that sometimes we come by it honestly, and I think Jesus would tell us, it's not the right way to see the world. That's putting our trust and hope in the resources of this world, but instead, we can actually see the world through an abundance, why? Because we have a heavenly Father who's trustworthy. We have a good God that likes to do good things for His kids. We have a God that will take care of our needs. We can actually see the world through an abundance lens instead of a scarcity type of lens. Now, I wanna be careful here because sometimes when it comes to this conversation, there are Christian leaders that I think have manipulated this teaching for personal gain, and I wanna have nothing to do with that. There's this thing that sometimes will be referred to as the prosperity gospel. You ever heard that language, prosperity gospel? Basically what it is is sometimes people in my position will tell you that if you just give, then you will get. You know, God will bless you. Now, Scripture's clear, God will actually bless you. It just doesn't say that the blessing is necessarily more money.

The blessing can come through greater joy, can create greater purpose, greater meaning, greater relationships. And so I don't want to in any way give the sense that God is like some sort of vending machine or slot machine that if you just put in the right inputs, that God's gonna give you all these outputs. The truth is, for some of us, if we gave obediently, it actually might create greater hardship for us. I don't know. And so I'm not an advocate for a prosperity type of gospel. I'm also not an advocate for a poverty type of gospel. Sometimes you'll hear people describe that the less you have is the more spiritual. And I also don't think that's true. That's true. Sometimes you'll even have like really spiritual people like monks and such that will take a vow of poverty as though that's more spiritual. I actually don't think that's true. I don't think that God is opposed of blessing people with material wealth. You'll actually see throughout scripture that there are people that God blesses and what he blesses them with is actually material in nature, okay? And so I don't want to advocate for a prosperity gospel. I also don't want to advocate for a poverty gospel. I want to lean into two principles that I think that are these promises that we can stand on.

The first is this promise that God loves to give good gifts to his kids. Do you believe that? Matthew chapter seven, sermon them out. We're going to get there in a couple of weeks. Jesus explicitly says that. And so we can live with this abundance mentality because God is a good God that loves to take care of his kids. The second principle that I think is really important to see in scripture is that those who are able to be entrusted with a little are those that can be entrusted with a lot. And oftentimes God will entrust us with more when we've proven ourselves trustworthy with a little. It's not a prosperity gospel. It's not a transaction. It's not an exchange. It's just that if I give to him first, I live on less than I make. I am able to save well and invest for the future and leave a legacy. I'm proving myself to be a good steward. Why wouldn't God entrust that person with more? And so I do think there's this sense that those who are good stewards are often trusted with a lot more. But notice this statement, verse 23. Let me go back to it for us. It says, if then the light within you is darkness,

how great is that darkness? What does that mean? The truth is if I see the world through a scarcity lens, I'm so concerned that there will never be enough. It actually robs me of joy. It robs me of peace. It increases my anxiety, increases my fear. It's almost living in a sense of darkness. It's not what God wants for us. Now, as I say that, let me be really candid with you. I personally struggle with this deeply. What's interesting about me, we're gonna talk about worry next week. I don't worry about a lot of things. I don't typically worry about the church. I don't typically worry about my kids. I worry far too much about money. And I don't really know why candidly, but I think I'm always convinced that there's not quite enough. I think about, I just sent a kid to college and I think how in the world am I gonna pay for this over the next four years? And I have this fear at times that it's not enough. Or I think about like my investments. I'm a pastor. We don't get equity stake in our business, right? And so I think about like, I don't know if there's gonna be enough someday when that day comes.

And if I'm not careful, I really can struggle with the scarcity lens. And my experience is the darkness that this describes. My world kind of spins sometimes with worry and anxiety. I'll drive my wife crazy because I share my worry with her, right? And I create a little darkness for her to walk through that she didn't choose to walk through. But that's real for me. And it's actually why giving becomes so important for me. Because the moment I give, it actually tricks my scarcity mindset and causes me to say, God, I'm putting my trust in you. Because I could put this in the 401k, but I'm gonna trust you with my future. God, I'm gonna trust you. I could put this to where my kids' college, but I'm gonna trust you. Believing that you are going to take care of us every step of the way. The truth is, as I look back over my shoulder, God has always taken care of us as a family. I've never missed a meal. We were always able to pay the bills. And yet for whatever reason, I sometimes will trust my resources instead of trusting the God who's above it all. And Jesus' teaching is to ground us. Come off the 70th floor.

Put your resources on the foundation that is Jesus. Walk in obedience to him. It'll change your life. It'll change your life. And so I think there's a piece of us that we've got to learn this principle. Let me give us the last principle. I think Jesus would say this, your master defines your freedom. Where you put your trust will totally define your freedom. Here's the last verse. Man, this one is really challenging and convicting to me personally. Here's what Jesus says, nobody can serve two masters. Either you'll hate me or you'll love me. the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to one and And I'm gonna love you. despise the other, you cannot serve both God and money." And I'm gonna love you. And I'm gonna love you. And I'm gonna love you. Now, the original text, the word for money is the word mammon. And I'm gonna love you. And I'm gonna love you. And I'm gonna love you. And let me give you a little bit of background to that. And I'm gonna love you. The Bible was written in ancient Greek, Koine Greek. Jesus likely spoke Aramaic. The word mammon is literally an Aramaic word that basically

almost deifies money. If you think about in the ancient world, they had, you know, lots of gods. And so like Zeus was a god, Arminius was a god, right? So mammon wasn't necessarily a god, but it was a reference to money as if it is, kind of has these divine attributes. What Jesus is saying is there's nothing that will compete with God for the throne of your heart more than your money. Because if we're not careful, we'll look to money, what only God can actually provide. Go back to my struggle, my story. Why is my life sometimes filled with so much worry? It's because I'm looking to money to give me security that only God can actually give me. Sometimes we look to money to give us satisfaction that only God can give us. Sometimes we look to money to give us significance that only God can give us. And the reason why money rivals God for the throne of our hearts more than anything else is we look to it for things that only God can actually do. And the reality of it is, money in itself, it is unpredictable. It is unstable. It is not something that there's any guarantees. And God says, don't put your trust there, put your trust in me, put your faith in me. It will fundamentally change you from the inside out. And so the statement of nobody can serve two masters points us back to the God that we ultimately need to trust. I was thinking about it this week, and I think that this

principle is true, that you will either use money to worship God or money will become the God that you worship. Did that challenge anybody else but me? Because the truth is, when it comes to the dollars in my wallet, if you pull one of them out on the back of the dollar, it says, in God we trust. And if I'm not careful, it's the very God that I trust. And so I think it's true, you'll either use money to worship God or money becomes the God that we actually worship. And so Jesus is challenging us because he wants to ground us. He wants to make sure that we live in peace, with freedom, with fullness, with purpose. It only comes when we take what's entrusted to us and we apply it to the things of God. Can I challenge you a little bit today? Okay, there's like three people who are good at that. Like, Sean, you're already stepping on my toes a little bit. Back off a little bit. Let me challenge you a little bit, and let me say this right out of the gates. Please do not receive my words as shaming you or guilting you in any way. I think when people in my seat shame people and guilt people as it relates to giving, that is not from God, okay? So my heart is not to shame and guilt, but my heart is also potentially to challenge you a little bit. You know that we do this survey every year. We do it in October. And we ask our congregation lots of things. It gives us data points to figure out where's our

congregation, how can we better serve it. It's anonymous, we don't know who answered what, and it's all like a self-evaluation. It's people kind of taking a look at their journey, they're kind of answering it off themselves. If you remember that survey, we asked a couple of questions related to money. Again, self-assessed, there's no like hard data behind it that we're looking at behind the scenes. It's just, here's the self-assessment that people have. One of the things we ask is how would you describe your current financial situation? And we say like, are you somebody who is really, really struggling that you need help to make ends meet? Are you somebody who's struggling, but you're able to just scrape by? The third category is I'm somebody who's, I'm doing okay. I'm able to pay the bills, I'm stable, but I don't have enough money to like save. The fourth category is somebody who's like, I'm able to pay the bills, I'm in good shape, I got enough to put a little bit away. And then the fifth category is somebody that says, I've got more than enough for me and my family. Okay, so five different categories. Self-assessment, not hard data, just here's how people self-reported it. 2% of our congregation put themselves in that first bucket. And so I know within the sound of my voice at all of our locations, there are people that struggle to make ends meet

every single day. And for you, what I want you to hear, we care a lot about you as a church, we want to come alongside you. That's why the Care Center exists. That's why the Dollar Club exists. We as a church care a lot about you. Part of what we see our opportunity is, is to come alongside of you. That's the. all in our life to support you in any way we can. I hope you take us up on that. When it comes to the next category, there were 8% of the people that says, I'm scraping by, but like just barely. The other 90% put themselves in the category that at least I'm stable, all the way up to people who would say like, I got more than enough. If I'm looking at just that 90%, another question that we asked is, do you give? It's kind of a yes or no. Again, not verifiable evidence, this is all self-reported. Of the 90%, 60% of those people said they do not give anything. I don't tell you that to shame you. I tell you that to give you a data point to understand, giving is not a financial issue. The problem is not financial, the problem is not economics. The problem is right here. We don't have a financial problem.

We have an obedience problem. And so I want to continue to challenge us in this way, not to twist your arm, not to make you feel obligated. That is the worst motivation to give. But to help us understand, there's a lot of us who are living on the 70th floor. That have put our trust actually in the wrong thing. As a pastor, that's what I care about. I care about your heart. I care about your heart formation. To make my point even a little bit clearer, if you take that last bucket of people who says I've got more than enough for me and my family, 48% of that group does not give. Giving is not a financial issue, it's a heart issue. And what Jesus is getting at is our heart. My friends, I care a lot about your heart as well. And I care a lot about what God is doing in your heart. And I'm telling you, when we learn to trust God instead of our resources, something fundamentally changes in our life. It was about a year ago that my oldest son called me and he never calls me. He'll text me at times, he never calls me unless he's wanting money. Sometimes he'll call me for that. And my oldest son, he calls me and I answered. I'm like, hey Levi, what's up, man? He goes, hey dad, something really exciting I want to tell you.

I'm like, what's that? He said, I set up a recurring gift online at church. I'm like, no way, that's amazing. And we celebrated it. Why do I celebrate that as a dad? It's not because of what it means for the church budget. It's because of what it means for the faith and the trust that's getting placed in my kid's heart. That's what actually matters. Because as a young person, I want him to start when he's got very little, he's got very little financial responsibility because the principles that you put into play when you have just a little bit are gonna be the exact same principles that play when you have a lot of it. And the reality of it is, if you can't do it when you got a little bit, you're gonna really struggle when you have a lot of it. Now, I want to challenge you in that way. For those of you who are high school students in the room, young adults in the room, you're kind of just getting started. Sometimes we think to ourselves, I'll start giving when I'm older and I actually have some. The truth is, it won't happen. What more money will do is magnify who you already are. Money doesn't change the dynamic. It magnifies what's already there, what's already going on.

And so the reason why I was so ecstatic that my 18-year-old was starting to trust God and put faith is, as he gets more, as time progresses, that trust and faith is going to grow as he stewards things for the glory of God. And so I would encourage you, don't wait. More money magnifies what's already there. The truth is, if you are really kind when you have a little, you're going to become really kind when you have a lot. When you're really generous when you have a little, you're going to be really generous when you have a lot. When you're really stingy with a little, I promise you, you'll become more stingy when you have a lot. If you're really critical with a little, you'll be unbearable when you have a lot. Money doesn't change it. It magnifies it. And that's why the principle is so important to actually get into play early on in your journey because it will actually change things. Let me take us to this next verse. When it comes to tithing, it's a biblical principle. And tithing literally means 10% that somebody chooses to give 10% to God. Some people will tell you that like tithing Old Testament principle, it's not like a New Testament. Jesus never taught tithing.

I want to kind of challenge that a little bit because Jesus may not have taught tithing directly, but he certainly didn't. and push it aside. Here's one of the things he says to the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, Matthew chapter 23. He's giving them a hard time. He says this, what do you teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you hypocrites, you give a tenth. In other words, you tithe of your spices like all the things of the world. But he says, but you neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Now notice what he says here. You should have practiced the latter. In other words, the important matters without neglecting the former, which is tithing. So Jesus actually affirms the tithe. Now, why is a tithe important? Like why does God ask us to give 10%? I mean, doesn't that put the board not on the 70th floor, but on the 80th floor, because we got less to deal with. Why does that bring things down to the ground level? It's because of this, a tithe 10% doesn't necessarily, it's not a debilitating amount, but it's enough to get your attention, right? It's enough to actually prioritize and reorient everything else around it.

When they tithe in the Bible, they actually tithe first, because if you give first, then you can actually make decisions to reorient everything else around it. So it basically says I'm committed to the things of God first, and I'll make adjustments with everything else in that light. And so it's a principle that actually challenges how we think about it. But let me challenge you in one way. I would say this about tithing. Tithing is not an act of generosity. Tithing is an act of obedience. It's what it means to walk the Jesus way. It's what it means to follow after him. Now, I wanna be real careful. There's a difference between salvation and lordship. In other words, there's nothing about tithing that earns our salvation. Salvation is a free gift, it's from God, it's not based on our works. There's nothing I can do to earn God's favor. God gave me his favor because of the work of Jesus. This conversation has nothing to do with salvation. It has everything to do with lordship. Like, do I really trust him? Am I really gonna follow him? Am I really gonna do what he says? It's a question about that.

And the reality for a lot of us is we trust God with our eternity, with our salvation, but we don't trust him with our wallet. And I think that it becomes this heart issue that God's wanting to work inside of us. Now, candidly, Lindsay and I, we've been tithing for a long time. It's one of those principles that we put into play in our marriage when we first got started. I was making like $27,000 a year at the time. We were throwing over couch cushions to buy Taco Bell. That's where we were at. But yet, it was a principle that we introduced when we were pretty young that's fundamentally changed us. I was wrestling with, like, why do I tithe? Like, why do I put God first in this way? Here's a few reasons that it came to me. I tithe because tithing honors God first. I tithe because tithing recognizes that God is the source of everything. I tithe because it builds trust in God. I tithe because it breaks the power of money in my life. And my friends, I desperately need God to break the power of money in my life. I tithe because it funds the mission of God. I believe in the mission of God and what God's trying to do in our world. I still believe that the work of Jesus,

through his local church, is the hope of the world. And I'm gonna back that by what I do and how I live. I believe that tithing, it cultivates gratitude in my life. Tithing aligns my heart with God, and God knows I need my heart to be aligned with his. Tithing trains me when it comes to being generous. Tithing creates impact beyond myself. But the most important reason why I give is because tithing's an act of worship. It's just a chance for me to say with my life, I trust God, I believe in him, I love him, I wanna give him my absolute best. As I would encourage you, what would it look like for you to take a step like that? So can I challenge you a little bit more? You're like, man, I wasn't good with it 10 minutes ago, and I don't know that I'm good with it today. Let me just be real practical. At least give you some things to consider. Again, I don't want you to feel an ounce of guilt or shame for me. I don't want you to feel like I'm twisting your arm anyway. Take this stuff to God, wrestle with it with him. Discern what he wants from you, and I'm just encouraging you to walk the Jesus way with him. Here's a couple things I want you to consider. I'd encourage you to consider to give first. Again, the tithe was not just a percentage, it actually was a priority. It's actually, it's the first thing you do.

And so for Linz and I, it's really important that we actually give on the first day of the month. And so what we do is we give first, and then we build our budget. Everything else gets built around it. Because the truth is, if you don't give first, oftentimes there's nothing left over, or very little left over. And so when you give first, it actually prioritizes it, and I might have to say no to a few things to make sure that my priorities are in the right place. So my encouragement, consider what it looks like to give first. The second one I would encourage you to think about, how do I give consistently? Because when it comes to giving, When it comes to God, I would say trust is not a one-time thing. Trust is an opportunity to trust God over and over and over and over again. So the reason why we give and give consistently is it actually allows me to trust God and put my faith in Him very consistently. For me, knowing what I need, because I sometimes look at this world through a scarcity mentality, I need to do it consistently because it reshapes and realigns my heart. Lots of ways you can do that. You can set stuff up, reoccurring.

Sometimes people just want to do it because it's an act of worship, but I would encourage you to think about what it looks like to give consistently. Last one is this. I'd encourage you to grow. That we never see it as a finish line, that we've arrived, that we grow. That some of us, we've given at the same level for a long, long time so much so that we don't even think about it anymore. It doesn't impact us at all. And I would encourage you, what would it look like to make a gift that actually would cause you to trust God because of that gift? Whatever that is, I would encourage you to take the step, to grow, to ask God to shape and change you. I think it will fundamentally change your heart. So let me walk us into a time that we're going to give back to God today and give Him our tithes and our offerings. We do it every single week around here at Willow. So across our locations, I'd invite you for the ushers to come and you guys can take your positions as they do so. We like to celebrate around here because we know that God loves a cheerful giver. So we love to celebrate these types of things.

Let me encourage you in this way. I would encourage you, maybe if you're here by yourself, would you just kind of think through, God, what do you have for me? God, is there a step you want me to take here? And whatever that step is between you and God, would you just faithfully and obediently take that step, whatever it is? Secondly, I think for some of us, we may have given once, maybe we give sporadically. I'd encourage you, whether you're here by yourself or maybe you're here with a spouse, would you be willing to have a conversation around, what if we prioritize this? What if we actually made it consistent? What might God do in our lives, in our relationship? Would you have a conversation about what that could look like? The third, I would encourage you to think about, what does it look like to take a step and to grow in your giving? No matter where you're at, what's it look like to take that kind of step? Let me challenge maybe those of us who are some of our higher earners. I think there's a particular challenge for those of us who are some of our higher earners. I think you'll actually experience more pressure around this topic than most people realize. And the challenge is, in our kind of world,

when we think about what it looks like to be obedient to God and give 10%, that's a lot. We think, man, I can't imagine doing that kind of amount. Here's my encouragement, maybe challenge to you. I want you to really wrestle with, is what I'm doing tipping God, or is what I'm doing trusting God? I want you to really wrestle with it. Again, it's a wrestle between you and God, but what would it look like if you really trusted Him, if you really put your faith in Him, how might God shape your own heart and life? So I would encourage you in this moment, if you wanna have a conversation with somebody you're with about it, I'd encourage you to do that. You can give a gift as the bag passes. I think the best and easiest way to give, it's online, it's the place you can make it most consistent, allow God to shape you from the inside out. Before we give, I'd love to say a prayer for us. God, we come before you. We say thanks for who you are and what you've done in our life. And Father, when it comes to giving, it's probably our least favorite conversation, although it's something you talk about all the time. And so Father, I just ask that whatever resistance exists in our heart, God, would you uncover why that's true for us?

That sometimes we misplace our trust in the things of this world, instead of trusting the one who's above everything in this world. And so Father, even as we exercise a moment of giving, God, would you help us recognize it's actually not about the money. It's about what's attached to the money. It's about our hearts. And as we give, may we most importantly give our heart to you. So God, we love you. We say thanks for how you're moving in our lives and through this church. We pray that in Jesus' name, amen. So we'll take the chance to give back to God. And as we do so, we'll see it as a act of worship as we sing to Him.