The Challenge of Generosity
A Church of Impact gives generously. If you read about the first Christians, you’ll inevitably be struck by their profound generosity. For example, in Acts 4:32-35: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the Apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put them at the apostle’s feet, and it [the money] was distributed to anyone who had need.”
As the church matured, their approach to generosity changed. In Acts 6, the church is conflicted because the needs of a group of widows were being neglected. The issue wasn’t about distributing money, but how best to distribute food.
Other challenges emerged in the Early Church. In Thessalonica, people we’re all about coming to church to eat and receive help. Many had the capacity to work/ contribute to the needs of others, but refused to work! In those instances, Paul prescribed some pretty tough love, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat!” In Ephesus, Paul had to tell young widows they were too young to be put on a list for help. He also had to tell family members to step up. “If you won’t take care of your own family, you’re worse off than unbelievers!”
When you read Paul’s letters to churches, people disagreed a lot about church finances. How much should be used for charity? The apostles conducted worldly missionary campaigns. How much should the Apostle Paul use for mission tours, for travel, for boat-fare, for camel-fare, for food, for shelter, for his fancy GPS system?
The early church called ministers to full time service. Should ministers preach the gospel free of charge, should they work side jobs, or should they be paid? In 1 Timothy 5:17-18 Paul tells Timothy, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. The scripture says, 'Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,' and 'The worker deserves his wages.'” When it came to his own needs Paul bit the bridle. But when it came to Timothy/Titus, he made sure the church took care of the team!
There is tremendous value understanding how the Early Church used money. But it’s worth pointing out that the Early Church faced unique challenges and circumstances. Not only did those challenges and circumstances change, so did their use of money. For example, early on, the church was fluid/organic/small. They didn’t have spaces to build/maintain. They didn’t have to pay wages, benefits.
In Acts, poverty was a major issue, and the church was the only means of relief. Nowadays, the government aggressively taxes and redistributes money to feed folks, give healthcare, rebuild after calamity, or respond to a global crisis. Whereas churches once provided tons of direct care, nowadays Churches work in conjunction with government/non-government, for-profit/non-profit agencies to respond to a vast spectrum of needs. Nowadays, it would only take a few hearty medical bills to decimate the average church’s budget. Churches that want to help people are inundated with restrictions, regulations, and liabilities. This isn’t an excuse, it’s just the reality. No one church can provide for the needs of an entire city—its totally a team effort!
Nowadays, we live in a vastly different world today because of technology. Information travels fast. We immediately know about every calamity the second it happens. Endless stories, needs, solicitations pour into the church via social media, email, snail mail, voice mail daily. People are more apt to just directly support a cause through the Internet, a parachurch group, the Red-Cross, a co-op, or a GoFundMe page… than they are to support a cause through a local church…
I’m not suggesting things are better or worse, they’re just different. It’s easy to be idealistic, or even spiritualistic, about this stuff. It’s easy to criticize. But every church, in every age, has to discern for itself how best to shine the light of Christ. Every year our leadership presents a budget plan to the congregation, and baring some extreme situation, sticks to it!
How Lakeside Organizes Financially
Here is how Lakeside organizes its finances: First, we have a CORE Fund, that enables all our CORE ministries to function (see page 16-17). WE like to say the CORE fund DEEPENS our IMPACT. We give 10% of our CORE funds to our missions partners. Some local partners are listed on page 30, global are on page 32.
Second, we have a CARING Fund, that helps people within our church who are in distress. For a time, we made the funds available to the public, it created a dynamic that was not only toxic, but unsustainable. Now we work through ministry partners and area agencies (and our small groups) to more strategically utilize the funds.
Third, we have a VISION Fund. When you give to the vision fund, one of two things happen. Your gift reduces debt (pays principal) on any mortgage we have. Or, it’s used for a vision-related priority to WIDEN our IMPACT. Going forward, we have significant parking lot work to complete, and we’d also like to renovate worship space.
Levels of Generosity
Level 0/ Level 1 :: NON-EXISTENT GENEROSITY
I want to jump back to Acts 4 a moment, and consider the verse in Acts 4:33-34 that says, “…God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” I want you to reflect on what your generosity says about what is going on inside you. For example, it’s possible that your generosity is non-existent. Let’s just call this level zip, zero, nada. If this is you, generosity is the furthest thing from your mind… and the message this morning is the worse kind of sermon you could have ever imagined walking in on, and if you haven’t left already you have already mapped out your exit plan!
No less than 1 out of 10 verses in the Gospels concern money, possessions. Someone counted 500 verses on prayer, just under 500 verses on faith, and more than 2000 verses on money and possessions. Wealth can be a great deception. Why? Because wealth creates the illusion that you are self-sufficient. When you’re surrounded by good things you don’t feel you have to pray about anything, nor do you have to trust anyone outside yourself. Jesus said it’s very hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It’s hard for the greedy too, and a poor person can be just as greedy as a rich person. A greedy person believes their greatest need in life is money, not God. The greedy person doesn’t believe God is good enough, or great enough, to provide for their needs. The greedy person lives in worry, fear, anxiety, on adrenaline, for today.
Level 2 :: CYNICAL-BASED GENEROSITY
In the history of the Church, there have been tons of shysters. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira present themselves as one thing, but in reality, their liars, and Satan has filled their heart!
In Acts 8, Simon the Sorcerer becomes mesmorized by the Apostle Philip’s power. He follows Philip all over the city. But he isn’t interested in following Jesus, he just wanted more power to become a better sorcerer, to make more money. And its Peter who rebukes him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. You are full of bitterness, held captive to sin!”
There are examples all over Scripture of people who use religion as a cover for greed. There are examples all over the news, every day! Severe judgment falls upon those who would violate the trust of God’s people for selfish gain, or to coverup evil. Maybe there is a temptation in this to throw out the baby with the bathwater? Maybe because there are bad actors out there, you assume everyone must be a bad actor? If you are cynical, I have three words for you. “Trust, but verify.” In Paul’s epistles, I sense that people trusted him, but at times they also asked him to defend his ministry. If a plan is good, and is of God, it can withstand the scrutiny of Godly people.
Level 3 :: LAW-BASED GENEROSITY
It’s striking to me how, when it comes to generosity, so many Christians acts as if their still under the Law. As you know, the Old Testament Law outlined rules, regulations, literal percentages, and conditions related to everything from grain offerings, to the first-fruits of your flocks/herds, to your wages. So here is the reality. The purpose of the law was to shatter any illusion of self-righteousness, and to point people to the full/complete sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness. The purpose of the law was to shift our focus from “what I can do to save myself from sin” to “what Christ has done to save me from sin.”
So we have to be really careful how we talk about the Biblical practice of tithing 10% of our income. First of all, people were tithing before Moses/Law. You might remember how Abraham presented a tithe to the high priest Melchizedeck in Genesis 14:20. It was a way for Abraham to recognize/honor God. But here is the danger, tithing can become a way of putting people back under a yoke of slavery. When I fail to measure up to the expectation, what happens? I feel guilt, pressure, fear, condemnation, that God’s judgement is upon me. But then when I do measure up to the expectation, what happens? I feel proud and all self-righteous, look at me! For some tithing even becomes a way they hope to obligate God… if I tithe, I get rich, I get my best life now, I get blessed, I earn God’s favor, God owes me…
Listen. There is a ton of wisdom to be found in the law. There is a ton of blessing to be found, living your life according to Spirit of the Law. But if you’re not careful the letter of the law can kill. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus to boast, Jesus didn’t let him. He told the rich young ruler, “if you want eternal life, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” I’m not saying there isn’t wisdom in tithing, I’m just saying that using the law to motivate generosity might be a short-sighted, if not dangerous.
Level 4 :: GRACE-BASED GENEROSITY
It’s at this point that we’re getting into the headspace of the early Church. Minimally, their motivation was on “what Christ has done for me.” What does Acts 4:33-34 say? “…God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” Not guilt. Not shame. Not the Law. But grace! A lot of preachers panic at the thought of not preaching law-based generosity. They wonder, “if people don’t tithe, it will bankrupt the church.” Well first of all, most people do not tithe anyway. The average household might at best give 3 or 4% to the church. Second, almost half of the people in a given church don’t give anything at all… and if they do, it might be the equivalent of a dinner tip.
Maybe the reason church giving is so dismal is because preachers have been so busy preaching the Law they never got around to preaching grace. I believe grace, when proclaimed clearly and powerfully, will motivate a level of generosity far beyond a tithe. When you focus is on what Christ has done for you, that he didn’t grab/grasp after power/authority/status/glory/equality with God but emptied himself and made himself nothing, and took the form of a servant, and died for you and for me… that kind of takes me into a whole other stratosphere of generosity, doesn’t it you? Do you give out of fear, or love? Do you give out of guilt, or gratitude? Do you give hoping God will love you, or because God so loved you that while you were still a sinner he died for you?
Level 5 :: IMPACT-BASED GENEROSITY
I’ll finish quick here. If you’re motivated to give because of what Christ has done for you… what might you be willing to give to see what Christ might do for others? This is kind of generosity we actually see in Acts 4…