03-Misconceptions: “Five Myths: That Weaken the Church.”

Chapter 1: Introduction: Widening Our Scope

Well, last week we corrected one of the most damaging misconceptions that you'll find in the modern church. That is that the pastor is the CEO, the primary minister, and the one responsible for everyone's spiritual growth. We saw from Acts 20, Titus 1, and Ephesians 4 that pastors equip, but it's the body that is to grow. The body grows when every part does its part. This week, we're going to widen our scope.

If the church can get the role of the pastor wrong, what else has snuck its way into the walls of the church? What other things have we assumed that scripture says that it does not? The answer is probably more than we can necessarily even imagine and certainly more than we'll finish today. From the building we meet into to the way we think about suffering and giving, misconceptions have crept into the Christfollowing life. And these misconceptions often weaken the church and burden believers with with expectations that God never gave.

Today, we're going to put five of those myths under the light of scripture, not to tear them down, but to rebuild them on the foundation that Christ has already laid. The first of these misconceptions that we're going to look at is this idea that the church is a building.

Chapter 2: Myth 1: The Church is a Building

The misconception is is that we go to church and that whatever happens inside the walls of the church is somehow more sacred than anywhere else. While being outside these walls is somehow lesser. We treat the sanctuary, we treat the classrooms, we treat the foyer, every part of this building, we treat it like a temple, the place where God is. But the reality is is that our God does not dwell in temples made by hands. Now, some will question this because they might remember something called the Holy of Holies.

Holy of Holies existed within the tabernacle, within the temple that was in Jerusalem before it was destroyed. This is the place where we read that the ark of the covenant was placed and God says, "I will be there with you. I will meet you there in the Holy of Holies." We know that the high priest would go in there once per year and would make atonement for the sins of the people. But here's the thing. When Jesus died on the cross, we're told that the veil that separated the people, everyone else from the Holy of Holies, this place where God was supposed to be, where God said, "I would meet you," was ripped in half, symbolizing that anyone and everyone has direct access to God.

That's why this matters because we have direct access to God. But it goes so much deeper. It goes so much deeper than this. We have this direct access access to God. But not only the presence of God, but we also have sunship and daughtership because of our God.

We read this in Galatians 4. But when the fullness of the time had come come, God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons as daughters as children. And because we are sons, daughters, children, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, "Aba, father. Therefore, you are no longer slaves." Family. We're no longer slaves to sin if we are in Christ.

Right? But we are sons. We are daughters. We are children. And if we are those children, then we are heirs of God through Christ.

Amen. And this is a beautiful extension of this other truth that God establishes for us in Ephesians 1 where he says in him, that's Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also having believed, you were what? Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is the what?

Guarantee of our what? Inheritance. until the redemption of the purpose purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Right? And this brings us to another beautiful image that Peter paints. This idea that we are being built into a spiritual house.

We're told that we are these living stones being built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Hold on to that. holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ. Family, this language is intentional as his kids. We who are the church, we have replaced temples and we have replaced priests, right? We now function as believers in Christ as the temple and as priests.

So that we are to become living sacrifices as we are told in Romans 12. But the amazing part uh that comes next still boggles me because I mentioned that temple thing and that implies that we do we perform this function that the temple used to and we do. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God what? Dwells in you. God himself dwells within every single believer.

Family, it's not just that that veil was torn in half by Jesus and we now have access to God. If we believe in God, if we've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we confess those sins. The Holy Spirit himself, God himself now lives inside of us. Do you understand the implication of that? When we sing songs like I am not alone, guess what?

You're not alone. There be no one else in the room. You are not alone. Right? He is there.

He is always there. The truth is we just don't go to church. We if we are in Christ, we are the church. When the service ends, the church doesn't close. The church is deployed.

That's how this is supposed to work. A subtle misconception exists here. It's a hold over from the Middle Ages. And you've probably seen this. It's like, "Well, pastor, I came to church and the door was locked and you weren't there." When did you come? 3:30 in the morning.

Family, here's the thing. Should the church always be available? Yes. But it's not these walls, and it's not this one man. It's every person who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I want you to think about that. Someone needs something. What's more effective? Let me go to that one building and see if that man might be there. Or, hey, I know somebody who believes in Jesus.

They live right down the street from me. They're right on my speed dial. Let me call them cuz I have immediate access to God's church. Amen. And that is what the church is supposed to be.

We are that royal priesthood. We are that church. Now, this ties ties nicely into the second misconception that we're going to talk about, and that's this idea of of that where there's that God is only

Chapter 3: Myth 2: God Only Shows Up for a Crowd (The "Two or Three" Clause)

present if there's at least two or three or more people together. You you may have heard people say this. You may have said this yourself. I will confess to you for a long time. I said this myself.

Well, you know, where two or three are gathered, there I'm also. And it's true, but not in the way we apply it in most cases. Right? So, here's the thing. This is a misconception that God isn't really here today because well, if the crowd's small, it's just not big enough.

We need a minimum number of people to unlock God's power. Now, immediately with what we were just talking about, you should be asking, you should be questioning things, right? Because if God lives in you, that immediately causes a problem. But we also have this idea that God must be more powerful in a bigger crowd, right? Where there's more people, there's got to be more powerful.

Let me ask you a question. Okay, I'm going to ask you this is simp this is simple. This is softball. This is Sunday school question. Is God infinite?

Is he infinite in power? Right? We say he's omnipotent. Right? What if you take infinity and you multiply it by infinity?

What do you have? So the unlimited powerful God that lives in you is just as powerful in you as he is within the entire church. Right? Does God need thousands to accomplish his work? Absolutely not.

Right? We we see this with the different prophets, right? You get Elijah going up against the prophets of veil. Obviously, they had no power there. God was had no power whatsoever.

But you see what God can do through the life of one person. And then you're like, "Yeah, but I'm me." We do this all the time. There are people in this room right now. It's like, "Well, God can't use me." And if you think that, I'm going to tell you something right now. your God's too small. That's not the God I read about in the Bible.

The God I read about in the Bible takes a complete abject mess of a person and uses him or her to do unbelievably imaginable things, unimaginable things. It It's crazy what God can do in and through each and every one of us. The question is, do you believe it? And will you allow him to do it? Amen.

Amen. All right. So this is the scriptural reality of what we're talking about Matthew 18

Chapter 4: The Real Context of Matthew 18: Church Discipline

which is often taken wrong. This where two or three are gathered. This is a discipline thing. Now of course we don't like discipline in the modern church. We don't like that because if I discipline somebody or the church disciplines somebody what usually happens?

Well this is my anti-disipline uh strategy pastor. I'm just going to walk out that door because we don't like that stuff. We don't like to be told that we're wrong. But this is what this is talking about. So Paul, not Paul, Jesus says this in Matthew 18.

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Okay, stop modern American social media person. Filter that through. If you've got a grievance with someone, what should you be doing? Go to that person yourself.

Right? We don't need to splash everything across. And you certainly this because this is another thing we do. Sorry, Pastor Chris has a a couple pet peeves in the church. This is what we often do.

And I've I've experienced this. Yes. Verily, I say unto thee, even in this church where I will get a phone call, and people are putting together their buddies and they're locking arms and they're they're making sure that I'm right. And once I know I got enough people on my side that prove me right, now I can go to them. Well, obviously you're wrong because I got like a half a dozen people here say I'm right.

Is that what this is saying? Not at all. Go to your brother or sister and if they hear you, you've gained a brother. You've gained a sister. But if they haven't heard you, take with you one or two more.

How many? Right. Not not the entire, you know, webverse thing. Instagrams, Facebooks, Twitter's, Tik Toks, right? By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word will be established.

Now, could these people still be wrong? Yes, they could be. This presumes that these people are right and you actually have an active sinner who is being called out. And if they refuse them, tell it to the church. And we won't get into all the details about that necessarily.

Some people think that's take it till the elders first, the leaders of the church, and then but eventually it ends up being where we get to this point. But if he refuses even to hear the church, the gathering could be the whole group of people. Let him be like the heathen or the tax collector. You know, like at that point, 1 Corinthians 5 tells us, "Expel the wicked man from among you." You're like, "Wait, you can't do that." But that's what the word says. Why would we do that?

The whole reason for that is that if they go, they come to a point of repentance and they come back and seek reconciliation. This, again, I'm going to I'm going off script here a little bit. We do not lower the bar to keep people in this room, right? We hold to what the word says. We hold to the standard.

Do we do everything that we can to see that people are reconciled to the word of God? And family, this goes not just inside here. This is how we need to parent. This is how we need to to deal with the people in our own lives, the people that are closest to us. We compromise so much of what we know the word of God says because we think we're going to be the one that saves them.

I have seen this done time and time and time and time again. parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, best friends, siblings compromise truth because they think by compromising the truth, by giving just a little bit, right? Doing the whole political thing. The thing that we condemn Congress of all the time, oh, just give a little bit. Just give a little bit. Just give a little bit.

What ends up happening when you keep giving a little bit and a little bit and a little bit? You end up in $ 38 trillion of debt and on the brink of financial disaster? you end up with a a society that those of us that have been around for decades going like I don't even recognize this nation that I'm in anymore because we've just given inch after inch after inch after inch thinking that somehow compromise is going to bring people to where we are. It's somehow going to bring people into alignment with the word of God. That is not what happens. When we look at Matthew chapter 19, Jesus tells the rich young ruler, "This is what you have to do to accept eternal life." And the rich young ruler walks away.

What does Jesus not do? He doesn't compromise. He doesn't go after him. He lets him walk away. Family, we have to stand for truth in every we find ourselves.

Amen. So, real quick, because I took a little bit extra, Jesus is just speaking out of something that's 1500 years already known to the to the Jews from Deuteronomy that was given to them all those years before. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 1500 years later, Jesus is speaking the same thing he was speaking 1500 years before. Right? These things do not change.

So Jesus is giving the church a judicial authority. He's saying that when you make the hard decisions to dis to discipline a sinner, he's saying, "I'm right there with you." When I when when you stand for truth, I am right there with you. So, the truth is is that God is omnipresent. He is present with you in your car. He's present with you in a in the stadium.

He's there with you when you're by yourself, when you're all over the place. We don't gather together to summon him. We gather in this place to celebrate him. Amen. All right.

Now, this leads us to our third misconception that the service is for the unbeliever.

Chapter 5: Myth 3: The Sunday Service is for the Unbeliever

That this service right here is for the unbeliever. Now, some of you would be like, "Well, duh." I mean, obviously, but this is an issue in the church today, family, right? The primary purpose of the Sunday gathering some people hold is that it's an evangelistic event for non-Christians. So, we must remove deep things to make these people comfortable. In other words, we can't talk about the hard truth or what may seem weird to them.

Otherwise, they might not come back. But family, this is exactly the opposite of what Jesus did. This is exactly the opposite of what Jesus did. In fact, this is one of my favorite ones. How many of you ever heard Jesus say, "I am the bread of life?" That sounds kind of cool, right?

Good little metaphor. You It's like, I mean, that sounds good. What kind of bread, Jesus? Good sourdough. I mean, what a good rye.

Like, what what are we talking about? But do you remember the context? Because the context of this conversation is weird.

Chapter 6: John 6: When Jesus Offended the Crowd

It's absolutely weird. It's the kind of thing that I'm talking about, but it's the thing that Jesus absolutely does because what he's doing is what we talked about last week. He's separating the wheat and he's separating the chaff. He's separating those who are his and those who are not his. And and this is what I mean.

Jesus, he's just performed one of the greatest miracles that most of us know, the feeding of the 5000. He's set everything up. He's fed people. Now, they're ready to hear him. And he gets in front of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people.

And I'm just going to jump in part of it, but listen to what he's saying and ask yourself, if somebody did not know what you know as a believer in Christ were to hear this, what would you think? Right. Here we go. Jumping into John 6 starting verse 53. Then Jesus said to them,"Most assuredly I say to you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, what weirdo, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living father sent me, and I live because of the father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. All right, where's the exit?

Like, seriously, this guy has got Woohoo. Like, what's going on? This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the mana and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. And family, these people go away.

This is what we get as we get to verse 60. Therefore, many of his disciples, not the 12, these are the others that are following him when they heard this said, "This is a hard saying. Who can understand it?" And when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, wait a second. somebody taught something biblical and people complained. He said to them, "Does this offend you?" But then just a few verses later from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. And Jesus did not hide from the truth.

He he did not tailor and change his message to go for just seekers. He was speaking to his people. He was working to equip his people. We cannot talk about standards many would say because this might drive people away. But again, I mentioned I mentioned the rich young ruler, right?

But but when the young man heard the saying, he went and went away sorrowful. He walked away. Jesus told them exactly what he needed to do and he walked away. That if they do not accept Jesus, right, this is one of the things that we do. It's like, hey, you know, you have to be very careful, pastor.

There's there's whole churches that'll tell you you can't talk about sin because sin's offensive, pastor. It makes it hurts people's feels. People don't want to hear that they're a sinner. I mean, maybe some of you have had that experience where you talk to somebody about sin like, "I'm not a sinner." Well, fundamentally that means they don't know what it means. And so that's the thing we could do families, help them to understand what that means.

I love how Aana describes it. Our our children's program. Anything that you think, say, or do that displeases a holy God. One of the things that I tell people, it's like, well, you know, if God is the creator, and I believe that he is, if he says something is wrong that it's a defect, is that not a defect? Sure.

I mean, we all understand this at the base level. We buy something at the store. We bring it home and it's broken. What do we do with it? We love it and adore it always until the end of our days.

Or we take it we take it back and we get the thing that has no defect. That's literally what this is. Sin are these defects that God's like I can't accept that. So helping someone to understand that family that is a form of grace because it's the Holy Spirit can reach in and help them to understand okay I get that at a base level but you know we can't tell them about all being having sinned we can't tell them about that there's none who are righteous there's no one who is right with God these these are things that we say so many churches will say is we can't talk about this stuff because it offends people it drives them away we can't tell them that we can tell them yeah that if you believe you won't perish. But we can't tell them what happens if you don't believe.

What's the implication here, family? If you believe and have life, what happens if you don't believe? You don't have life and you perish. And we certainly can't tell them that the unbelieving will burn with fire. But family, these are the things that the word of God clearly tells us that we need to be communicating.

Because family, if we're the ones in this room that need to be equipped so that we can go from this place, we need to understand the implication of these things. Like if we really believe and we really understand that people who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have this end, would that not spur us on to share the truth? First of all, first and foremost, what Jesus has accomplished, right? Don't start with hell. That usually doesn't work well.

Right? Right? I think there's a reason why this is at the end of the book. But we start with Jesus and say, "Look, Jesus has made right the relationship that you have with God. We cannot hide that." And for a church like this to keep that from you because there might be a few people in here that might be offended.

Family, that's a tragedy. We need to always be speaking truth in this place. And this is the the the spiritual reality of this. We saw this one last week also that the apostles continued in the doctrine in fellowship. Every time they got together as groups eating meals and sharing together, they were talking about the doctrine of the word of God, the truth of the word of God, the communication of the gospel together as they fellowshipped, even as they broke bread.

And I believe that this is really important because most scholars believe that when they're breaking bread, they literally are sharing in that communion together. They're remembering the broken body of the Lord Jesus in that bread. They're remembering the shed blood in that cup. But the thing is, this is the crazy thing because this goes off separate. You want to know one of the main ways that the the early church's enemies attacked them.

They got Roman officials to believe that they were cannibals because they ate flesh and they drank blood. And guess what they didn't do, family? Even though that lie perpetuated, they continued to do it. They continued to live that truth regardless of what it cost them. The truth is family is that this gathering is like a locker room where the team comes and we do coaching and we in equipping the world is our field.

That is where we go and we actively practice the skills that we have learned in this place. We gather together to build up so that we can go make, baptize, and teach.

Chapter 7: Myth 4: God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle

Now, this leads us to our fourth misconception that God won't give you more than you can handle. The misconception is is that if life gets too hard, which you know, some of you are thinking like, you know, pastor, if I go and do that previous one that you talked about, it's going to make life really hard for me. And heaven forbid that life should be hard, right? This is this isn't a little side misconception. This is a bonus one for you.

Is that it God desires that you be happy in every area of your life. And you can do whatever you want to make yourself happy. Leave your family, leave your spouse, leave your job, leave your church. Fill in the blank. I've literally had people tell me, "I left my spouse because it made me happy and God wants me to be happy." Family, that is a lie from the pit.

That is so untruth. And the the other thing is like God will give you more than you can handle. But more on that here in a second. So if life gets too hard, God has failed somehow. This is the misconception or I must have misunderstood his will.

The scriptural reality is is this is a mislication of 1 Corinthians 10:13 which refers specifically to temptation. It's not talking about suffering. Now temptation can s be suffering but it's wider than this. God provides a way to escape sin. But Paul Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 that he has a he was burdened beyond our strength so that he would rely on God and not on himself.

James tells us that suffering well suffering is joy. Right? My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Jesus spoke of suffering as an inevitability for his followers, a sign that they were one of his followers.

This was one of the things that's so amazing these days. People will tell you, "Well, obviously if you're suffering, you're you're not in alignment with God." There's an entire branch of Christendom in America that says like, "Well, if you're not being prosperous, there's something wrong with you. You're doing something wrong." I want you to listen to Jesus, the one that these people say that they follow and see if it jives with what they're teaching. If see if it jives with some of the stuff that you've been taught in this in John 16:33, we read this from Jesus. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have what? Tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Then he then back in verse chapter 15 he says, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

If you are of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also what? persecute you family. If you find that the world loves you, you might want to stop and take take inventory of what's going on in your life.

Because what Jesus is saying here is so true for his his followers and his believers. The truth is that God frequently gives us more than we can handle so that we can stop relying on our own strength. The weight is meant to crush our self-reliance. It's not meant to crush our faith. Jesus says, "My burden is easy." He says, "Take my yoke upon you." But how many times do we think, and I'm sure it exists in this room, I don't want to bother God with that.

I got this. This is too petty for our God. If that's you, your God's too small. Our God is enough for every single burden, every single struggle. Not just for me, not just for you, but for everyone in this room, everyone in all of creation that calls on his name always and forever.

He can take it all. And the thing is is that we recognize we don't have the power to accomplish these things, but through Christ, we can do these things because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Right? Again, Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lonely in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." And many of you know what I'm talking about. That time where you're like, I am jing with God. And no matter what comes your way, you're just like, can totally handle it. Everything just seems fine. I recognize that he's got all the things.

Not some of the things, not part of the things, not most of the things. He's got all of the things. And we recognize that because he is indeed more than able,

Chapter 8: Myth 5: Tithing is a Binding New Testament Command

which is a thing that I reminded myself as we were moving into misconception number five because we need to talk about tithing because there's incredible misconceptions that surround this idea of tithing. In fact, this is one of those things that has been anathema in the church for as long as I can remember. If a pastor talks about tithing, I'm out of here because the New Testament doesn't talk about tithing. And I'm going to tell you, you're right, but you're wrong. Jesus talks to the Pharisees about tithing.

But I'm just going to tell you what we're going to talk about is actually if your heart is in the wrong place, this is going to be really bad for you. Because to the person who's trying to hold on to every dollar that they have with everything that they have, this is going to be really bad for you. So just stay with me and we're going to understand. So the misconception is that tithing is a binding command for Christians. And if we don't pay our 10%, we're somehow robbing God.

That's the idea. But the scriptural reality is is that the tithe was essentially the income for the Mosaic theocracy. That is like the government of the Jews. This is how they went about taking care of the Levites in the temple. The common misconception is is that the biblical tithe was a flat 10%.

Which the word for tithe is where we get a tenth. But the problem is is that the average actual tithe that the Jews paid was around 23.3%. Per year. This is what they paid. But what about now?

If it's not tithing, why do we give it all? Right? Right? If the New Testament doesn't tell us the tithe, why do we give at all? Why do we have a giving box back there?

Why do we have automatic giving? Why do we have the online giving? Why do we have text giving? We don't have text giving yet, but we could. But I mean, it's like all why do we have all of these things?

What's the point of that? Now, some will tell you that it's easy. Just look at 2 Corinthians 9:7 that says, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver." Now, this often gets translated as,"Well, giving doesn't make me cheerful. God says I have to be cheerful. Therefore, I don't need to support the church through giving because I'd be violating God's command if I did because it makes me not cheerful." This is a misuse and misunderstanding of this passage.

Right? When we look at the wider context, we see that the apostle Paul is talking to the Corinthians about a promised financial support that they had told Paul, we're going to give to the Jerusalem church. They had made a commitment. We are going to give X amount of whatever to support the Jerusalem church. This is not unlike what we do sometimes today.

We'll take collections for churches in say California that are going through wildfires or whatever. or we'll put together a collection for Pakistan or for the Philippines or Kenya or wherever it ends up being or just even down in Utah County. Paul's not saying, "Oh, you're not cheerful about following through with your support for the Jerusalem church." Okay, no problem. They'll figure it out. That's not what he's saying. Or or better yet, cuz there's another church mentioned here, the Macedonian church.

He's not saying, "Well, you know, the other churches in Macedonia, because there's a region of churches, you know what? they'll they know incidentally I told about your faithfulness and so they made commitments as well. you know, just just keep this in mind. Don't worry, they'll bear your burden for you. That's not what Paul's saying. It's actually quite the opposite. Let's jump into chapter 9, starting in verse one, leading into this.

Now, concerning the ministering of the saints, it is superfluous, thank you for that one, Paul, for me to write to you. For I know your willingness about which I boast of the Macedonian boast of you to the Macedonians that aa was ready a year ago and your zeal has stirred up the majority. Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that as I said, you may be ready, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, that we, not to mention you, should be ashamed of this confident boasting. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand which you had previously promised that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as grudging obligation. Now, I don't know if you tracked with all of that, but basically what Paul said was, "Hey guys, you said you were going to give this amount of money to

Chapter 9: Let Your Yes Be Yes: The Integrity of Giving

the Jerusalem church." And just to make sure that you do, I'm sending people to collect. Now, are you seeing how that doesn't quite jive with the well, I got to be cheerful, and if I'm not going to be cheerful, then this. Now, you might be asking yourself, well, what does this have to do with where we're going in giving, Pastor Chris? And it ties together with something that Jesus says in Matthew 5. We referenced Matthew 5 back in the first week of this series.

And Jesus has a bunch of things that he says. And one of the things that he says is very important. Let your yes be yes and your no. Look, I don't need to swear to God because for a believer in Christ, it should be if I tell you yes, I mean yes. If I tell you no, I mean no.

My word is my bond. If I say a thing, that's going to be the thing. Our God says something, he does it. He says yes, he means yes. He says no, he means no.

So if you make a commitment to fulfill something, what is Paul basically saying to these guys? We're going to make sure you fulfill it. Now, how does this have to do with us? This has to do with us because like many other churches, this church has a budget. This is why this is important because as members of this church once a year we get together and we look at a some paper for like a few weeks in advance and then we vote on a budget and we say hey we are going to make a commitment to fulfill this number that funds the pastor's salary the secretary's salary the lights and all the things amenities amenities the children's programs all the things all the stuff we say Yes, we are going to support that.

And then what does this mean? We need to do it. We fulfill it. It's not just, hey, I'm going to give a thing a little bit here, whatever. Or you know what?

I'm going to vote for it because other people are going to take care of it because the supporting of it doesn't make me happy. Are you seeing where this is going? Now, again, I I got to be careful. I can look at Mrs. Thompson and and Emma.

But I need to like try and not look at anybody again. I don't know what any of you give. I just know when I look at it's like, "Hey, look at that. We're behind budget by a ton." Oh, okay. Cuz I know what we're doing.

I know how we choose. And we're getting that here in a second. Like, how do we determine that? Because so far, you might think, "Wow, this is way worse than the tithing thing." No, you have no idea. It still does get worse because it has to do with a change in our thinking.

Because most of us in this room think, "Oh, this paycheck that I got, it's mine." And and I might give a part of it to support this thing. Now, here's my question. Paul Paul says these words. Now, he's talking about spiritual gifts, but he's really kind of talking about everything. He says in 1 Corinthians 4, "What do you have that you did not receive?

And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you're not? Man, look at all this money I have. And why this matters is because we pay all of these things in advance before we ever get to what we might give to God. And you think about that in lie of now you say like, well pastor, it's Old Testament. It's Old Testament like that we give our first fruits.

Now again, we haven't been told how much we're to give. And the thing is is the New Testament won't tell us how much we're to give. It it's again it's worse for some people. I think it's fantastic myself, but but it's like, hey, I give I build my life off of starting here. You start with what you've purposed in your heart to give to God.

This is what we're told in the word. We determine what we are to give and it starts there. then everything comes off because what ends up happening and I've talked to so many people again not looking at anybody in particular and if I'm talking about finances in this room at any point I'm not talking about you necessarily but it's like look at all the things that I can do because I have all of this money but when you take whatever you purpose in your heart to set aside now that pool is smaller and it adjusts what you choose to do at that point and you just adjust to it and and I have to say it was it was amazing because when we first came here as as a pastor family massive pay cut I cannot even begin to tell you and and we don't get all the details but I remember going to to my senior pastor at the time and the Lord bless him for speaking through to me cuz he was touching on this cuz I was like I don't know how we're supposed to give. We've always given and I have no idea how we're supposed to give. Like I don't even know like how we're going to survive on this let alone give. And he's like, "Oh, it's way worse than that." Like, this is kind of like his summary of it.

And he told me what what his family did. And it was basically this cuz I'm I'm going to blow some of your gourds. Your benefits package is part of your fruits. And most of you have never thought about that. 401k, insurance, all of those things. I'll be honest, I used to thinking like, man, I sure am glad I don't have to spend extra money off this extra $2 to $3,000 in benefits that I'm getting.

And he rocked my world because he's like, and we do. And I I mean, at that point, I'm just like, God, I have no idea how in the world that's even possible, but we tried it. And God did amazing things and always provided. Now, my girls will tell you we ate a lot of beans and rice, but just completely blew my mind with that. But just having this attitude that says, "Lord, we've purposed in our heart to do this thing and watch you move." Now, I'm not going to promise you what happens after that, but all I can tell you is that he's never not taken care of us and he's done amazing through it all.

Chapter 10: The Biblical Standard: Purposeful Generosity

o, the truth is is we're not under the law of tithe. We're under something better, but also potentially, as I mentioned, more difficult. I'm going to kind of call it purposeful generosity. We're being very intentional about being generous. Paul says this again in 2 Corinthians 9:7.

So let each one give as he purposes. That's the important part of this thing. Not grudgingly or out of necessity. The Lord wants our heart to be in alignment with him about this. Our God pours out so much to us.

So what can we then do to pour out to his community, to his family? That the standard is no no longer a percentage, but it's generosity. The apostle Paul deliberately changes the vocabulary. He stops using the word dat which means a tenth and he starts using the word caris which means grace or gift. Dr.

David Lowry in his commentary in 2 Corinthians says this. He says Paul never used the word tithe when he discussed giving even though he gave more attention to giving than any other New Testament writer. giving was to be proportionate in keeping with one's income. We read this. Then the disciples, each according to their abilities, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. And then the income of some would permit them to give a greater portion.

Right? So if you're you're multi-millionaire, you can afford to give more than somebody who's in the poverty level, right? I mean, that makes absolute sense. While others due to their few re resources and other constraints on them would be limited to lesser contributions. What was important was the giving was to be un a unified ministry with each one participating regardless of their income.

So you don't have this like oh it must be this person. It's like hey what can I trust God with? And one of the things I'll tell people sometimes is like you may be able to do more than you necessarily think or you may need to make changes in your life. Maybe you don't need that $300 or $400 or $500 or $600 cell phone plan. You know what I mean?

Or satellite dish entertainment and whisbang this that or the other thing. The $800 lease payment for the new whatever car and and so forth. Right? There's ways that this stuff can be done. This is what Jesus says in Luke 12.

He says, "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much is required, and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask more." And I want to make an important distinction here. We've been talking about money, but our God's given us so more, much more than money. He's given us our time. He's given us our talents. And he's given us treasure.

And the thing is is we choose ideally to give back of all of those in the portion that we determine. And this is the thing we talked about last week. It's like if God's people are in alignment with him and they're literally proportioning out their time, their talent, and their treasure being dispatched and deployed out into this world, what can happen? I would argue amazing things. things that would absolutely blow our mind.

Chapter 11: Sermon Recap & Weekly Application

So, family, we've covered a lot of ground today. We've learned that we don't go to church, that we are to the church, that we are we're to be deployed the moment that we walk out these doors. We saw that God's presence doesn't depend on a headcount and that this gathering isn't a stage for comfortable halftruths. Instead, it's the locker room where we get coached for the real game. We confronted the lie that God won't give us more than we can handle and discover that he often does exactly that so that we'll stop trusting in ourselves.

And we learn that the tithe has been replaced by something more freeing though potentially more demanding that is purposeful promisekeeping generosity. So here's what I'm asking for all of us to do this week. First, carry the church with you. You are the temple. Act like it at work, the store, in your home.

Second, take that burden that you've been white knuckling, that you've just been trying to fight through yourself and give it to Jesus. Use Matthew 11:28 through30 as your prayer. And the third, if you've been if you made a commitment, financial or otherwise, honor your word. Let your yes be yes and your no no. And so with that, I'd say, let's go and be the church.

Would you join me in a closing prayer?

Chapter 12: Closing Prayer

Father, I thank you. I thank you that you do not dwell in temples made with hands, but instead you've made your home inside every single one of us through the Holy Spirit. Forgive us for shrinking your presence to a building to a to a headcount or a comfortable gathering. Lord, forgive us of expecting immunity from suffering when you promised purpose in that suffering and for treating generosity as an obligation rather than as a grace that we get to participate in. Teach us to carry the church wherever we go, to depend on Christ when life overwhelms us, and and to keep our word with cheerful sacrificial hearts. build your church we pray not with bricks but with living stones for your glory not for our ours and it's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.