Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] That's right.
[00:00:01] I want to talk to you about. Continue our talk as we go through the book of Second Corinthians and as we enter into this conversation of generosity, which we began last week. Paul the Apostle is teaching this church to continue to grow.
[00:00:16] This is a very interesting way that he continues to help them understand that they are to grow in love and faith and purity and knowledge of Christ, but they are also to grow in this aspect of generosity. Now, it's interesting, and I need to give this just a caveat right up front, that we work exegetically through Scripture. So verse at a time, chunk at a time. And I did not plan for this chunk to land on the time that we're actually moving to another building and asking you for a variety of donations in a variety of different ways. But God has a sense of humor, and so we're talking about generosity at the same time that we're talking about moving to this new location.
[00:00:55] And so don't attach the two. All right? That's God's business. But it's interesting to me that this is where we're at in our study of Second Corinthians. And a part of our growth as followers of Jesus Christ is learning to be generous, is learning to walk around with hands open instead of hands shut.
[00:01:15] What do you think are the top three reasons why people stop attending church?
[00:01:21] Any ideas?
[00:01:24] Take a guess. What do you think? Top three reasons.
[00:01:27] Okay. Laziness. What is it?
[00:01:30] What is it? Did you know it's up there? I know it's up there. I was hoping that you would just say it.
[00:01:38] I'm trying to. Help me help you. All right. Help me help you. All right.
[00:01:44] Guess what the top reason is. It is irrelevance. And the second one is hypocrisy. You're right on track. And the third one is moral failure. Yes. Very good. See?
[00:01:56] Yeah, that's right. It's interesting to me that one of these has to do with programming failures and the other two have to do with heart failures.
[00:02:08] People start getting disappointed with going to church. Irrelevance is like, okay, improve your programming. Like, do something different than you haven't done before, and be bold. Try something new. Don't change the Gospel, but change the envelope. Change the way that it's delivered. The other two have to do with moral issues. Right. With these heart issues, there's hypocrisy in the church or there's moral failures in the church. So I want to tell you this right up front. Good people want to trust their Leaders and good leaders want to be trusted.
[00:02:39] In the church, you find this as like the paramount thing because you don't find it in too many other places. But if you're a leader, you want people to trust you. And if you're somebody who follows somebody who's supposed to be a leader, you want to be able to trust them. It goes both ways. It's interesting to me that as I've had different jobs through my life, the people that I work with would always complain about the leaders and they would always finish the statement with, well, if I had their job, I'd do it a lot better, right? Have you found that as well? And then some of them get their job and then they're hated as much as the leader that they replaced was disliked. Satan is always about trying to chip away trust.
[00:03:21] This is his gig.
[00:03:23] He loves to take things, issues, moments in life so that he can slowly, in our hearts, chip away trust, so that eventually we don't trust anybody. He does this with love too. He chips away, gives you enough bad love experiences so that eventually it's better not to love than have loved at all.
[00:03:45] Trust is one of the major issues, even more so, I think, than love. Because trust deals with the issue of love.
[00:03:52] You're not going to love anybody you don't trust.
[00:03:55] And he is always chipped away at hearts when it comes to the ability to trust others, even from the get go. You remember when we first run into him in the Garden of Eden? You remember this? What did he do? He runs into Eve, right? She's out and she's just strolling along and then she sees this tree and it's got fruit on it. And Satan says to her, did God really what? Say, chip, chip, chip, chip, chip.
[00:04:24] She said, I can't eat from anything on the tree. And if I eat from anything on the tree, I will surely die. Did God, Is that what you really heard? And if it is, what kind of a God would that be?
[00:04:36] What kind of a God would keep this beautiful fruit from you? Disregarding the fact that the entire globe was full of fruit and she could eat from any tree in the garden? Literally, that's what God said. But not from this one tree. So like a child, she wants to what, Eat from that one thing she's not allowed to eat from?
[00:04:57] Did God really say, maybe you misunderstood. Maybe you can't really trust God when he tells you something. Maybe he's trying to keep something from you.
[00:05:09] Chipping away at the trust. Until Eve eventually comes to the thought that led her to eat. And that thought is, maybe I cannot trust God.
[00:05:20] He does this continually in life. Satan will attack every relationship you have in the same way. He will begin by chipping away. Do you think that person really can be trusted? Sure, they said that, but you don't think they'll actually follow through. Chip, chip, chip.
[00:05:40] He attacks every leader, heavy relationship in the same way.
[00:05:45] Whether it's a friendship, whether it's you at a job, whether it's your marriage, whether it's a church. He will chip away at our hearts with regards to how we feel like we can trust the person that we should be able to trust. The minute you begin to trust in someone you believe in, he will give you every reason to doubt.
[00:06:07] Even if it's just a small thought, if it has enough momentum, it'll turn into something you never thought possible. Paul the Apostle deals with these same issues in the same way. He's dealing with the Corinthian church, and he's dealing with them about money. And let me tell you, if there's ever an area where you lose trust in this world, it's over money.
[00:06:29] This is a necessary step in the conversation Paul has with the church. And he's been teaching this church, as he does with every church, how they continue to grow in Christ. He's already dealt with a variety of topics, how to keep the gospel pure. Don't listen to the wolves that creep in and try and steal away the sheep. Use your gifts God has given to you to bless the church, serve one another out of love. Excel in faith, excel in your speech, excel in knowledge of Jesus Christ. Excel in your love. He's dealt with all of those things. And while he's dealing with those things, naturally he comes to the next step, which is now let's talk about money.
[00:07:10] Today, he wants to help them understand the topic of money must also fall under the topic of trust.
[00:07:18] Give what is promised and follow through in your giving. Live with integrity.
[00:07:25] So where we're jumping in, if you want to turn in your Bibles or your device, we are jumping in. In Second Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 6, it's up on the screen, and here's what Paul says. Accordingly, we urged Titus that just as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. Now, when you read about this act of grace in this passage, it's talking about this act of giving. We know that because of what we have just read. You can catch up with us and watch a few of the messages that lead up to this. But this is this act of grace that Paul's talking about. He clarifies it in the next verse. But as you excel in everything, don't you love that? You excel? You're doing so good. Church at Corinth. You're doing so well. You excel in everything. You excel in faith. You excel in your speech. You excel in knowledge. You excel in earnestness. And our love for you. You're doing so well. See that you excel in this act of grace. Also excel in all of these areas equally. This act of grace means if you've promised to give financial support to somebody, follow through on your promise.
[00:08:37] This is the middle of the letter that we're diving into with him. Paul has just talked about this. We talked about this last week. Giving money to fund what God loves helps us to love what God loves more. I'll say it one more time. Giving money to fund what God loves helps us to love God more.
[00:08:56] We fund what we love. If I want to know what you love, just give me your bank account. I'll tell you what you love. It's right there. Whatever you give your money to is what you love. Except for taxes. That's one example.
[00:09:09] That's the one. What do you call it? The one caveat. Yeah. Exemption. Thank you very much. And that's funny, because you can get exemptions on your taxes. All right. God loves those who are suffering for his name. The church at Jerusalem was suffering for Jesus. Paul had been collecting for this church for a number of years. This church has been close to him. I just used this picture, but this isn't actually the church of Jerusalem. But Paul has been collecting for these folks for a long time, for years. And this has been really a blessing in Paul's life because Paul was Jewish. And Jerusalem is where all of the disciples got sent out from who are turning the world upside down for the gospel. So Jerusalem is really a really special place in Paul's life. So Paul wants to bless this church in Jerusalem, and he's been collecting for them for years. All these different churches in Laodicea and Ephesus and in Thessalonica, all of these different churches, he would go there and they would say, how's the church at Jerusalem doing?
[00:10:08] Are they doing okay? They're oppressed. The Jewish people hate them. The Christians there, Those are the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The politicians hate them there. You know, Pilate, like, I just wish you guys weren't around. I washed my hands of you. Remember that? With the old Jesus thing?
[00:10:24] The politicians don't like them. The Jewish Leaders don't like them. And the Christians are suffering. They are suffering so much that they're losing their jobs, they're losing their security, they're losing their lives.
[00:10:36] And because of this, Paul has a deep concern for this church at Jerusalem. Every church he goes to in Asia Minor, he goes, hey, listen, I just got to tell you about this church in Jerusalem, like we just did with the Ukraine.
[00:10:48] He says, I got to tell you about this church in Jerusalem. And they are really suffering. And if you want to give anything to help them, I will take your money and I will carry it with me. There's no ATMs. I will carry it with me and I will deliver it to the church at Jerusalem.
[00:11:05] All these churches have been jumping on board and helping out. First Corinthians 16, verse 1. Paul says, Listen, I'm going to even tell you how we're going to do this. So this is in the first letter of the Corinthians. He asked them to get involved with Jerusalem. Listen to this. Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the church of Galatia, so also you are to do on the first day of every week, each one of you is to bring something aside, put something aside, store it up as he may, prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. In other words, Paul is saying, listen, these opportunities to give, this is up to you. This is between you and the Lord. Set it aside, save it. And when I show up, you can give it to me, and I will take it to Jerusalem. I will take it to these different churches that are in need. But something unfortunate has happened.
[00:11:55] Greed.
[00:11:57] People have come in pretending to be greater apostles than the apostles. The people saw, Like Peter's not much to look at, right? Like Paul's not much to look at. He wasn't much of a good speaker. Did you know that the Bible even says that? He's just not. He's not a great speaker. He's not a formidable human being. He's not somebody that you would look at and say, wow, that guy really knows what he's doing. And so these people have come in, they call themselves the super apostles. Don't you love that? Super apostles. You got your regular apostles, and they're okay, but then you got your super apostles, and they speak better, they look better, they've got the Learjets, the nice houses, and their teeth are whitewashed beyond a doubt. So if you support the apostles, good for you. But wouldn't you rather have a super apostle?
[00:12:45] The super apostles have come into the Churches. And guess what they found out that is going on. They found out that there are collections being taken up, that all the people in the church are having their little boxes set aside. And they're saving up their money. Not that they can afford it, but because they're learning to be generous, learning to grow in their faith, learning to sacrifice. So they put it aside and they're waiting for, for a collection day when Paul shows up and they give it to Paul. And Paul walks back to Jerusalem and says, look how much your brothers and sisters around the world love you.
[00:13:18] But the super apostles have found out there's some money boxes in people's houses. And so they stand up and they begin to criticize Paul. They begin to say that Paul is not trustworthy. They begin to say that Paul might not actually deliver the money that you're giving to him. Chip, chip, chip.
[00:13:43] And then if you give it to us, because look at my teeth. If you give it to us, we'll make sure it goes where it needs to go. We are the super apostles.
[00:13:58] Now, the Corinthians were second guessing their giving.
[00:14:01] Satan was attempting to steal away the joy that they were just beginning to enjoy by setting money aside to help those in need, by sacrificing. You know how it is, right? We talked about this last week. You know how you feel when you give something to somebody in need? It is a good feeling. It is meant to be that way. You are built in the image of God. You are built with hands to give. Satan says, close them up and keep. God says, open them up and give. And when you do that, you live out a part of God that is just.
[00:14:36] Yeah, there's no other way to explain it. It gives you a sense of joy to sacrifice for somebody else. This is a part of Christian living. The more you do that, the more you grow. These Corinthians were just beginning to understand that. And now these super apostles, these wolves, come in and attempt to steal the joy away from them. Paul had graciously brought the Corinthian church into this blessing circle. Those who had joined in helping the Jerusalem church. And listen, these churches were excited to help out. Look at this. In second Corinthians 8, 4, these kind of verses are all over the place in the New Testament. Listen to this. They were begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Have you ever begged somebody earnestly to take your money to help somebody else? I mean, that is a fervor, right? Please tell us, how can we give you more to help those who are in need.
[00:15:35] And now the Corinthian church was beginning to understand this act of grace, to revel in it, to understand how it increases their ability to look like Jesus. They were growing in speech, they were growing in faith, they were growing in knowledge of Jesus. And now they were growing in the ability to give like Jesus would give.
[00:15:55] And these wolves were chipping away.
[00:15:59] They were stealing the joy by taking the trust away.
[00:16:04] You can't trust Paul, but you can trust us. I mean, I've got a Leargetto back. You understand they didn't have Lear jets back then, right?
[00:16:16] I'm sure you can make the connection. Verse 10.
[00:16:20] And in this matter I give my judgment.
[00:16:23] This benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also see it there.
[00:16:30] Also a desire to do it. Paul, we understand you're collecting these offerings. We want to be a part of it. All these other churches are begging you to be a part of it. Throw us in there. We're anxious to be a part. We want to bless those churches who are hurting.
[00:16:46] This is a regular point of teaching for Paul. Generosity would help them grow into more of who God wanted them to be. It's usually done through sacrificing something of monetary value to you. Paul wants to provide food and clothing and needs for the suffering church, but he can't carry a big bag on his back through the Roman Empire. He's got to carry cash back to the Jerusalem church so that they can buy what they need.
[00:17:10] And now this Corinthian church was thrilled to be asked to participate. This church at Corinth has offered to send a gift and they gave their word. And Paul actually said, like we talked about last week, there's no manipulation in this. Like, I'm not going to come and send Guido over to your house to start finding the little canister of money you got hidden away. There's no manipulation in this. But if you want to be this kind of person, if you want to see this, this growth in you so you become more like Jesus, you will find a joy that you have never known before.
[00:17:44] So life gets in the way. They slacked off and they started to begin to listen to these super apostles. And they were doubting the integrity of Paul. Should we give him this money? It's hard earned money. Can we trust Paul? These guys are saying we can't.
[00:17:58] I also love this in verse 12. This is a little sidebar. Listen to this. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened. That's a matter of fairness. Do you know what he's saying there? He's saying, I'm not telling you to give what you can't afford to give. I'm telling you if you've got a little extra, you can learn this wonderful discipline of giving, this wonderful blessing of giving, and you can be brought into this wonderful circle of people who bless others.
[00:18:29] But it should not eat away at your needs.
[00:18:35] But be careful what you put into the needs category, because sometimes we can give up a need pretty easily so we can meet the needs of somebody else.
[00:18:45] Keep perspective.
[00:18:47] Paul says this church at Corinth is more blessed than they really think that they are, especially if they compare themselves to Jerusalem. Look at verse 14. Your abundance at this present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. Now, I want to break this down because this is really cool. Your abundance. Corinthians, your brand new believers. This is a brand new church. Your abundance financially should bless them, Right?
[00:19:17] Your abundance is you don't have persecution here. This church is not being persecuted for their faith. They've got jobs, they've got income. They've got food. They've got roofs over their head. They have all the needs of life. Your abundance should bless them so that their abundance may bless you. What kind of abundance did they have? They're broke. They're being persecuted. They're literally being killed for faith, for their faith in Jerusalem at this day. They're a lot like, by the way, what's going on in Syria? And if you don't know what's happening around the world to Christians, you really need to tap into a different news website, because Christians are being eradicated around the world and nothing is being said about it. For some reason in Syria, they're being eradicated from the earth.
[00:20:01] Jerusalem church is much like this other church.
[00:20:04] So what is their abundance? What is Jerusalem's abundance? The answer is Jerusalem. Even though they don't have cash, they have sent out church planters. Paul came out of Jerusalem. They have a Jerusalem council that oversees some of the issues that are going on in the different churches. They sent out all the disciples. All the disciples. They came out of Israel. They came out of Jerusalem. Their abundance was that they sent out missionaries, they sent out the gospel.
[00:20:36] They sent out the message of Jesus Christ to the world. That is their abundance. You can read about it in Romans 15:26. For Macedonia and Achaia. Remember, Macedonia and Achaia are both Greek. Macedonia is in the north, Achaia is in the south. That's where Corinth is. That's where Athens is. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. This is a totally different book. Book of Romans. But Paul's referring to the same deal, verse 27. For they were. What does it say? Church.
[00:21:12] They were pleased to do it. And indeed they owe it to them. For the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings that they may also ought to to be of service to them in material blessings.
[00:21:26] Listen, there would be no Corinthian church without a Jerusalem church.
[00:21:31] The Jerusalem Church sent out the apostles, the missionaries, the disciples. The Jerusalem Church sent them out. And because of that, the world began to be evangelized. Corinthian church would not even be there without the Jerusalem Church.
[00:21:45] So Paul is saying, you give the money and they give you gospel leadership and spiritual blessings. Verse 11. So now finish doing it. Well, Paul says, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completion, by your completing it out of what you have. In other words, church, follow through. Be people of integrity. Don't let Satan steal this joy by chipping away at your trust.
[00:22:12] Give out of your generosity. Give out of your generous hearts. Don't let Satan's lies convince you to second guess.
[00:22:20] Give and be generous.
[00:22:24] I often follow this pattern personally, people. My kids will.
[00:22:32] We've had conversations. You probably have conversations with your children on this as well. Like, how do you know when you give money to somebody on the street? How do you know where that money goes?
[00:22:41] I don't. You don't? I'm pretty naive, but sometimes the Holy Spirit will prompt me and sometimes I will do that thing.
[00:22:54] And I kind of leave it up to this verse to kind of let God. You know, what if this money ends up in the wrong place, that's in his hands, but I'm giving it to the Lord and it ends up in this person's hands. Now, I'm not saying that I give to every person because. And quite frankly, the world has changed since I was a kid, right? When I was a kid, you could stop and help somebody fix their tire. These days I tell my kids, keep driving because you never know what's going to happen on the road, right?
[00:23:21] It's an evil and different world. And it kind of gets under my skin because it eats away at my trust. It eats away at that trust Chip, Chip, Chip. I want to be able to trust people. I want to be able to do that. And sometimes I don't know if I can or not. But this I know I trust God. And so if God gives me a leading to help somebody, I'm going to do it. And I'm going to let the outcome that's going to be his business and not mine. Sidebar. All right.
[00:23:49] Not only is there an accountability for how you give, if you've promised to give, then give, follow through, be generous. This is what Paul is talking about. But there's also accountability for leadership. This is one of the best parts of this passage. I'm going to read to you some chunks here and you're going to love it. Here we go. Verse 16. But thanks be to God who put it into the heart of Titus, the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he is going to you of his own accord. You know what he's saying there? You could easily read over this and miss this. Paul doesn't travel alone. I love that Paul always has somebody with him when he travels. Do you know why? He Integrity, accountability.
[00:24:32] He wants to give everybody the right reason to trust him. So he doesn't travel alone. In fact, he didn't even travel with one person. He's got a whole entourage that he travels with. And he is accountable to the churches and he is accountable to them.
[00:24:48] Look at this, verse 18. And by the way, the people in his entourage weren't chosen by him most of the time. They were chosen by the churches that he represented. Don't you love that? So Paul had to travel sometimes with people he was just getting to know, but people that had been already tapped into and approved, vetted by the churches that he served. And he always traveled with a group, verse 18 with him with Titus. We are sending the brother who is famous. Get this, this. I would like to be me someday. Okay, here's how it goes. We are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preacher preaching of the Gospel. We're not told who this is. We don't know who this is. Just a brother who knows how to preach and he's trusted by the churches. Not only that, but he has been appointed. Here we go. He is appointed by who Church he's appointed by.
[00:25:41] Is it up there?
[00:25:43] Yes. He has been appointed by the what? Not appointed by Paul. Not appointed by Titus. Appointed by the churches to travel with us and we carry out this act of grace that has been Ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. We don't know. It could be. Listen, I'll just tell you. It could be Barnabas, it could be Apollos, it could be Timothy. We don't know who this is at this time. All we know that they are deeply rooted in God's truths. They preach the gospel well, they are trustworthy, the churches trust them and they are confidential appointees. They. They have proven themselves worthy.
[00:26:20] Not only that, but why have three people traveling when you could have four, verse 22. And with them we are sending our brother, another guy whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters. Isn't that interesting? Paul as the leader intentionally put tests into this last brother's life in order to prove his trustworthiness.
[00:26:45] And we found him earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you.
[00:26:53] I love this. In fact, this is why Paul will often say we in his letters.
[00:26:59] Because to give the churches confidence, he held himself accountable. He traveled with people that the churches knew. The churches appointed and they had tested accountability, accountability, accountability. The partners for Paul's accountability were specifically chosen. Titus was chosen because he's a good shepherd. The first brother was chosen because he preaches the gospel well and he has a deep knowledge of God's word. The third guy was chosen because he was found to be earnest in every matter, probably a good administrator. Everybody is so used by God with the gifts that God has given to them. And my last question is this. Why so cautious? Why is Paul being so cautious by traveling with these entourages wherever he goes? And here you have it in verse 20. We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that has been administered by us.
[00:28:08] Why does Paul take his job so seriously that he travels with an entourage wherever he goes? Because he knows Satan's job is to come into all of the churches that are trusting him with their money and go, chip, chip, chip.
[00:28:28] While you cannot maintain trust in every situation, and Satan will be successful in stealing the hearts away of some people.
[00:28:38] And while trust is so easily lost, let me just encourage you to read Scripture honestly and see how those apostles who raised churches up, established churches, planted churches and grew, people took accountability very seriously.
[00:28:58] Leaders are given a great amount of trust and they should protect this trust with integrity. Did you know apostles didn't even get paid? Did you know that in Scripture, shepherds of churches, pastors got paid and that was normal and that was encouraged. But the apostles like Paul he earned his living. Well, how did he earn his living, Mr. Joel?
[00:29:19] That's right. He made tents for a living.
[00:29:23] These apostles tried to protect their integrity with everything they could so that the churches could maintain their trust. Here's how the money was collected and delivered. Just a little chart for you to see. Every believer set aside the money weekly. Paul gathered the funds with accountability. Paul sent trusted men to collect the money. The money was safely delivered to Jerusalem by these trusted men. The distribution of the money was overseen by the elders of Jerusalem church and reports were sent back to the churches on the money that was received. In other words, receipts.
[00:29:55] This was what they were doing in the first century.
[00:30:00] Money can be so divisive. There has to be many checkpoints along the way. Satan was constantly throwing doubt into those checkpoints in order to create mistrust. The battle for this trust founded in money could have a huge bearing on the reputation of those who are preaching God's word. Satan will use any instance and any person willing to help in order to chip away at trust. So church, how do leaders prevent a lack of trust? Here's three things I would suggest if you want three, take a picture of these. Intentional testing. There should be intentional testing along the way. Whatever church leader that you are following needs to be intentionally tested before he's given a position. This is actually in Scripture.
[00:30:46] Even people who lead in the church are not to be novices. They're supposed to be tested and then given places of leadership in the church. The greater the leadership, the greater the responsibility, the greater the testing.
[00:30:57] No leader in the church should be a novice. Number two, strategic systems. In this case, it was the Jerusalem Council.
[00:31:04] And I need to tell you we have strategic systems in our church that we use. At Village Church East. At Village Church east, this church that you now are sitting with right now worshiping with, you would need at least three nefarious people collaborating together to steal anything above a few hundred dollars. There's so many checkpoints along the way when you give your offering that you would need like a consortium of people planning to take that money away. And you would need at least two nefarious people collaborating together to steal anything less than a few hundred dollars. We have checkpoints along the way because we believe in strategic systems, not because we want to be a business, but because we believe in accountability and giving you as much room to trust us with what is given than probably most other businesses.
[00:31:59] And number three, transparent communications. And these in this case in Paul's day would be his letters. But for me, most of the time money is passed on to me for special gifts. I make sure that the elders know. So if you give me some cash for something, which rarely happens, by the way, but once in a while it does. If you give me cash for something, I make sure I go right to the elders or the deacons and I put it in their hands. I remove myself from the process. And there's a reason for that. It's because there needs to be accountability at every turn so that we don't give Satan a foothold, not even an inch. You give him an inch, he'll take a stinking mile.
[00:32:40] The leader's part in accountability is always multiple eyes, checks and balances, accountability, reporting, and vetted leaders. True, we may lose.
[00:32:48] We may lose interest someday, but we want to keep our conduct above reproach and don't even entertain the appearance of wrongdoing. Take as many cautionary steps as we can to make sure you this church can be trusted, not just between one another, but outside these walls. This church needs to be a church where we are trusted.
[00:33:13] Verse 21. Finish with this. For we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also where Church.
[00:33:20] We aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also what is in the sight of. Of human beings everywhere.
[00:33:28] God is very concerned about how we guard our integrity, even when we're giving generously above our normal giving.
[00:33:34] Imagine a massive bridge stretching across a canyon. It's strong, it's beautiful, carries thousands of cars every day. But underneath, hidden from sight, there's a crack, a small hairline crack in one of its support beams. No one sees it at first, but over time, as these thousands of cars go over, it doesn't affect traffic right away, but as thousands of cars go over, pressure builds. And one day, that flow of traffic leads to a catastrophic collapse.
[00:34:06] Integrity is like that beam.
[00:34:09] When it's whole, everything can be trusted to hold up. But the smallest crack left unchecked can eventually destroy the entire structure. Your reputation, church is reputation is what people see. Your integrity is what holds it up.
[00:34:28] So what? Number one, when it comes to integrity, consistency is the real challenge in life. It's not always the big obvious failures that lead to the downfall. It's the little compromises along the way. It's the little choices along the way. And the people that you lead will start doubting your ability to be trusted. So church consistency is the real challenge. Don't let little compromises start taking hold.
[00:35:02] Little tiny cracks will lead to massive failures.
[00:35:08] Set barriers and do not cross them, because once your integrity is compromised, it's very, very difficult to get it back.
[00:35:17] Trust in a marriage takes a lifetime, but you can destroy it in five minutes.
[00:35:24] Integrity is a very valuable thing. Trust is a very valuable thing.
[00:35:30] Protect it. Don't even give an inch. Because if you give the devil an inch, he'll gladly take a mile. Number two, walking with Jesus is 92% about keeping your word. Now, I don't know if it's actually 92%, but I thought that was a good number to throw up there. So that catches your attention. Walking with Jesus is, let's say it's 91% about keeping your word. Jesus said, if you put your hand to the plow and look back, you're not able to be my disciple. Do you know what that means? If you vow to follow him and say, I'm all in, baby, and then you start working, you start working the field, and then you look back and say, what am I missing? Jesus says, you're not worthy to be called my disciple. The kind of person that we want, that we want to see us develop into is the kind of person that can be trusted to keep their word. In James 5:12, listen to what it says this. But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. I swear on my mother's grave. That's what we would say today. Don't swear either by heaven or by earth or even on your mother's grave, but let your church. Would you say this with me? Here we go. But let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you don't fall under condemnation. You know what that means? Be a person of your word.
[00:36:50] You know why you should be a person of your word?
[00:36:53] Because God is.
[00:36:58] Because God is.
[00:37:00] And what God says, He will do. And he never strays from that.
[00:37:05] So if we want to look more like him, if we want to look more like Jesus Christ, we are people of our word and we guard it. And we give people every reason to trust us and no reason to doubt us. And when Satan comes in and sticks his foot in and says, that person can't be trusted, we go, forget that. I'm not even giving it an inch.
[00:37:25] We give the person the benefit of the doubt.
[00:37:28] And if it's proven that they have snowed us, that they have fooled us, that they have taken our money and walked away, that's God's hands. God will deal with the outcome of that. Our job is to continue to be faithful and trusting people so that God can use us in this world.
[00:37:50] You keep your word as an example of God's faithfulness to you. It's about integrity. If you promise to give, give. If you promise to carry the money, do it with integrity. If you promise to help those in ministry, do it with the gifts that God has given to you. After all, Satan promises one thing. To chip away at churches, to chip away at trust, to chip away at your leadership integrity. And he will use anything and anybody willing to help him fulfill that goal. Don't give him an inch because he'll cut a mile out of your heart. Let's pray.
[00:38:26] Father, I'm grateful for just this encouragement from 2000 years ago from the apostles who wanted to make sure that they wouldn't give any reason for their integrity to be called into question.
[00:38:45] It seems to be always over the issue of money. It is, even today, such a volatile issue. But it can happen in a lot of other areas as well. So, Father, may we live lives that don't give people any reason to question our integrity. Let us be people who say what we say, keep our word.
[00:39:04] Who, if we follow you, live as though that were true so that on Sunday we're not one person and on Monday a different person.
[00:39:14] You are with us wherever we go and you know our heart of hearts. And so, Father, I pray that this message would be encouragement to somebody here today that we would be people of integrity, not willing to give the devil an inch.
[00:39:32] But being a people that you can trust first and others can trust because we are accountable people of integrity, take this message and do what only you can do as the Holy Spirit applies us to each of our lives.
[00:39:50] And Father, I just want to say this. If there's somebody here today that has been damaged, this is a very sensitive subject. I know trust, when it is taken away, leaves gaping holes in our hearts.
[00:40:08] And it's very hard to trust again when you've been damaged. So, Father, I just pray if there's damaged hearts in here, people who have been hurt by people they trusted, may you do the work of healing that only your Holy Spirit can do and help them to be willing to trust again.
[00:40:27] May you fill in the gaps that need to be filled in so that they can be whole again, so that they can know the joy of trusting those around them, so that they take precautionary measures. Maybe they speak to people around them or an elder or something, so they take precautionary measures, but they are willing to trust again. And in doing so, let them find the joy that we only find when we are able to trust and we don't think that everybody is trying to sell us a bill of goods.
[00:40:58] Deep subject. And we're grateful that you deal with it in your word like this. Help us to be more better followers of yours even when it comes to trust and integrity. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:41:13] We finish our service with Commander.
