Radical Generosity - Part 3

The third and final reality I see in Luke 16 is this:

Money promises what only God can deliver.

Luke 16:13 says "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

I know that no one sets out to literally worship money, but the fact is that if you organize your whole life around acquiring it and pursuing it - you are serving it! The truth is that it owns you, not the other way around.

Somewhere along the line we begin believing that if we just have enough of it, we'll be not only happy, but we'll have peace, contentment, fulfillment, joy, stability, security, and hope. All things that we should be finding in our relationship with God. This is why some of the happiest, most satisfied people you've ever met don't have much money. It's because they have found their true worth in something other than their bank account.

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Radical Generosity - Part 2

There's a lesson I learned several years ago that was game changing for how I think about my finances. That is this: I'm a manager, not an owner. Everything I have belongs to God. Everything. My money, my house, my car, and all of my stuff. It's all His.

Luke 16:12 says "If you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

Psalm 24:1 says "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

Imagine what it would be like if you and I lived as if this were true. We would spend money differently. We would treat stuff differently.

And if we are serious about having a radical impact on those around us, then suddenly radical generosity becomes much easier. After all, it's not ours. It belongs to God. So giving it away, using it to bless someone else, sharing out of my excess with those that have none - all of this begins to make perfect sense.

Live as though you were the manager of what you have, rather than the owner. My guess is that your grip on "your" money and "your" stuff will start to loosen, and those around you will begin to feel blessed. And I wouldn't be surprised if God lets you manage even more.

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I fired my wife

It just wasn't working out. I know she was doing the best she could, but the fact is that there was just too much on her plate. One of the hardest lessons I've been learning in the church planting process is how to balance my ministry and my family. And part of that balancing act is making sure my wife isn't trying to do more than she should do either. Yesterday it became pretty clear that her desire to help me and take some things off of my plate was resulting in nothing but stress and feelings of being overwhelmed. So I fired her. I fired her from kids ministry. I fired her from feeling the need to pick things up that don't need to be picked up, and from trying to do everything all at the same time. Maybe being fired is a bit harsh, but she thanked me in the end.

As a leader one of the most important things we do is to make sure the people around us are working/serving in life giving ways. And that happens when people are functioning from areas of strength. People don't get burned out by working too much, they get burned out by working too much doing the wrong things. As a young church of six months, we are just now starting to really understand that. In the beginning it's basically "If you have a pulse, then we need you serving here." But now, as we are growing and getting more volunteers, we can start getting people into areas that are life giving for them. It's not easy, but it's so important for the health of everyone involved, and for the health of our church.

So Kimi was one of the first victims. She was fired from a job that was life sucking rather than life giving for her. And she was reassigned to the things that give her life - being a wife, being a mom, and when she has time - leading and encouraging women to embrace the story they were meant to live.

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Radical Generosity

Radical generosity leads to radical impact. I believe that more than almost anything. Generosity opens the doors to allow us to impact, influence, and ultimately shape our culture and the people around us. I was studying Luke 16:10-13 recently and came across three realities that I think shape us in how we think about our finances. Over the next couple of days I'll unpack them here.

Luke 16:10 says "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?"

Reality #1 - Money is a test for what matters most.

A lot of times we hear people say things like "If I had their money, I'd be a lot more generous." It's easy to look at how much an athlete gets paid, for example, and insist that if it were us we would give away our whole salary and live off of endorsements, etc. Can I just say it? That's bull. No we wouldn't. I know we like to think that, and maybe it gives us an excuse for why we aren't generous now, but the fact is that we wouldn't change. Jesus says basically the same thing above. He says that however you are now is exactly the same person you would be if you added a bunch of zeros to your account. More money doesn't make a stingy person generous. All it does is magnify what the person already is.

And beyond that, Jesus says here that money is simply a test for what really matters. If we can't be trusted with something as insignificant as money, why would he trust us with what really matters - "true riches." You see, Jesus is talking about a lot more than cash here. In fact he contrasts "worldly wealth" with "true riches." For Jesus, the opportunity to have influence and to impact those around us comes as a result of how we steward the physical stuff he gives us. So if you and I want to have radical impact on those around us, how we use our money and what we do with it matters.

Radical impact comes from Radical Generosity.

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Community

This week marks six months since we launched Story Church. I'm thrilled at where we find ourselves today. In many ways, it's completely different than I thought it would be, but I couldn't be happier with our progress. Yesterday I had the opportunity to reflect with our church on what God has done these first six months, and to begin to dream about the kind of community we can still become.

In just six months, we've seen incredible impact on people's lives. Many of the people in our church were completely detached from God just six months ago. Today they find themselves not only regularly attending our services, but more importantly they are finding a community where they belong. They are connecting relationally with others who are seeking to live like Jesus. Together, we've been able to serve our school where we meet. We've blessed the teachers, we've volunteered hours at the school, and currently we're in the middle of a backpack drive for the new school year. We've had global impact as well - giving so that a community in the Central African Republic now has a clean water well where they once had none. We also saw our community step up and give sacrificially toward Haiti relief when the earthquake hit.

More and more we are seeing our mission take shape - to help people embrace the story they are meant to live.

On Sunday we began to dream together about a different kind of community. One where authenticity was the rule, not the exception. We are beginning to take the risks to be open, honest, and real with each other. I don't want to be part of a community where all of a sudden we hear about a divorce. I want to be the kind of community where two years before that happens, he is able to share with someone about his struggle with pornography. There's too much at stake in our marriages, in our families, and in our communities to pretend we have it all together. We have to be willing to be real with each other and "carry each other's burdens" as it says in Galatians 6.

This kind of authenticity starts with me. It starts with you. And I think we're off to a great start. But the reality is that future generations of Story Churchers will be deeply impacted by the kind of community we shape and form here in this first year or so. I hope and pray that we have the courage to not only talk about it, but that we will be willing to get beyond the fear of becoming vulnerable with each other, and to engage in deep, authentic community.

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