Our Father, I pray that you would take my mind now and actually think through it. Would you take my lips and speak through them? And would you take all of our hearts? And would you set them on fire with love for your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ? And all God's people said, Amen. Well, I was telling you about General Assembly, and it was a, I think, a very profitable week. You see several tongue-in-cheek compliments from a couple of different guys there this week, though. I'm saying things like, Leo, you incredible, actually, saw you sitting in the assembly hall listening to the debates and actually participating. A little jab there from some friends because, frankly, a lot of the times, I think of it as fairly boring. And what I love about General Assembly is sort of stealing out into the hallway where a lot of people gather and just talk and fellowship, and it's people that over the years, you get to know very well from all parts of the country, even different parts of the world, deep and wonderful relationships. And one of the things that we end up talking about, you know, it's really one of those preliminary questions you have to get through before you get to really needy things is, well, how are things going at your church? And a lot of times, I feel sort of guilty because, you know, I'll ask the question to a person and I can almost see the shame on their face, the sadness, and they're sort of ducked down as they tell me of various controversial things going on in their church elders that are hunting them down. If this is a pastor or if it's an elder than it's a pastor that it's out of control, or maybe it's all sorts of difficult discipline cases in the church, or who knows what. It's a controversial issue that tend to bring a church down. And I always feel guilty because praise God, we don't have those kind of problems. I mean, God has given us in the first five years of this church a very healthy start. We just don't have problems of that nature. And I think one of the reasons is what you heard Dr. Clowney in his farewell address to us last Sunday mention, that in his entire life, all of the sessions that he has been around, even boards that he has been on, he's never seen a leadership like our elders. And I give praise and thanks to the Lord for that. So there's a lot of things to be excited about. And boy, the type of things that are just on the horizon for us are very exciting as we're thinking about the growth that the Lord has blessed us with. And seeing in basically the last nine months, over 100 adult members joining in a host of children together with that, moving to two services in August, having the Easter service, not enough room in this room for everyone that the Lord brought. And then just next week, we've got two new pastors joining our staff. Next week actually, we'll be ordaining our new youth pastor in the worship service, Link Ashby. And then Robert Cook will be joining us as well with Link in July, as Robert heads up our Congregational Care Area, Pastoral Counseling and all sorts of different areas related to Congregational Care. So so many fun things going on in our church. God has blessed this family in wonderful ways. But as families need to do, families need to take time occasionally to talk about sensitive but important subjects. One of the things they teach you in counseling, and I am not a good counselor, and I haven't had much experience of training in counseling, but one of the things I know is you always want to look, particularly in premarital counseling, at what took place in that person's family when they're growing up because they're in a lot of ways, they are a product of the environment in which they grew up. And one of the things you look for, sensitive but important subjects like, for instance, how a physical relationship between a husband and wife was communicated to the children, issues like death and divorce and money. These are very sensitive and important subjects, and when they're not talked about, when they're sort of brushed under the carpet, pretended like they're not there, that leads a lot of times to dysfunctional families. We are the body of Christ. We are not a club, alright? We are not an opportunity simply for you to get together and socialize as wonderful as the fellowship is. This is a family, and we have certain commitments together, certain responsibilities, and one of my responsibilities is to keep before us with some frequency that parallels the frequency and the scriptures to talk about sensitive but important subjects. Many of you know that next to the subject of the Kingdom of God, Jesus spoke more frequently about the subject of money than any other thing. And actually I like to think of the two together because what God has called us to be is a distinctive people that really, that we are the presence of the Kingdom of God in this world, that we are here to show forth as we talked about, I think even last week, the city of God amidst the city of man. And therefore, the number one thing that Jesus addressed to his followers in terms of the critical nature of being that salt and light in this world, and being that healthy family and Kingdom influence is the subject of money and financial resources. And so we can't duck it. We don't talk about it very frequently, and some of you are going, yeah, you pick the Sunday I bring my friend. All right, you know, it'll be a while before we address this again, but it is very important that we look at these things together. So we're going to take a little reprieve from Ephesians and look at a wonderful passage that was read by the Replicas for us a little bit earlier. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 through 15. And what we want to look for are some guidelines, some principles that God might have us to begin to use to develop our thinking in a way that is Kingdom oriented because, you know, that passage in Romans chapter 12, I love the translation, I think it's the Philip's translation where it says that what the world is doing is trying to squeeze us into its mold. All right, again, if number one on the priority list for Jesus is money, where do you think the world and the evil one is working over time to squeeze us into its mold? It certainly is in this critical area. And we want to look at this passage, and I'll be real candid with you up front, certainly this is part of a long-term, ongoing discipleship effort that we all need to think about together because of the great things that God is doing and will do among us. But there's also a short-term need, as you look at the budget to date and what the Lord has brought in through the tithes and offerings, we're about $50,000 in the red. As far as I know, at this point in our fiscal year, calendar year, fiscal year, we've never been in the red. And we're moving into, as we say, just an incredible time in the life of our church, friends we need to be solid in this area that is such a high priority for the Lord. And so it is an issue that I know is sensitive. I mean, for many of you, as soon as the subject of money comes up, you've got this mental defense system where you see the torpedo of money coming towards you, and you send out some sort of defense system to deflect it and send it out of your orbit. I want to urge you by the power of the Spirit this morning to think through these things in a humble way. This really is a family issue, and so if you happen to be visiting this morning, then welcome to the family, at least for today, and we pray that you will profit. Let me give you a big picture context briefly. Paul addresses, as you probably know, a number of controversial subjects with the Corinthian church. I think it was a lot like our church. Corinth was a center of commerce and was an affluent church in comparison to some of the other churches that the Apostle Paul visited and wrote to. It's a church that he said excelled in everything. I mean, these are the people that started the infamous ancient Olympic Games and even the Ismian Games. So these were people that excelled in everything, but he's saying now, Corinthians, devote yourself to excelling in this great area. And so also, I think the Lord is saying to us today, Houstonians, members of the fourth largest city in this country, people who in so many ways are accomplished, make sure that they do not neglect or even become mediocre in this area, but seek to excel in this great area of giving. So in this section, it goes from chapter 8, verse 1 through chapter 9, verse 15, Paul first urges them to renew their commitment to a collection that's in 8, 1 through 15. And the first letter to the Corinthians, just a year earlier, approximately, he talked to them about the great need, a missionary need for the Christians in Jerusalem who were under great persecution and suffering. And the Corinthians said, oh great, we'll get on board and help support this. Well, Paul's looking at his watch and going to some of you are doing. Okay, it's a year later, and we're not seeing any of the product of this, and so he urges them to re-up the ante there. Secondly, in verses 16 of chapter 8, through the verse right before our passage, 9-5, he tells them how the funds are going to be collected and administered, a very important issue, particularly in our in-ron Arthur Anderson days here in Houston. There needs to be great care devoted to how the process of collection is taken and how these funds are administered. And you can trust Paul is saying the process that the church is set in place. And then he gives them what we're going to look at in verses 6 through 15, some principles or guidelines, grace oriented guidelines. These are not guilt-ridden guidelines. These are saturated with the grace of God. They're three that I want you to see very quickly. The first one is what you might just call plainly, the guideline of sowing and reaping. And you see this in a very first verse. The point is this, Paul says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Even though this is coming from an agrarian context of which few of us are immediately familiar, I think the principle of sowing and reaping is one that we readily understand. The idea is the farmer isn't going to be chinchy in the amount of seed that he puts out. Why? Because he understands if he is liberal, if he is generous with the amount of seed that he scatters, then what's going to come forth from it? A very bountiful crop. And from that crop will come even more seed that can be used the next year to do the same thing in a greater proportion all over again. And there's a multiplying effect from year to year. This is the idea here. He's saying, look, you who tend to excel in so many things, I mean, you're a good-looking group, you're an accomplished group, you're entrepreneurial, why in this one area that is so important in terms of the priorities of the kingdom? Are you inclined to mediocrity? Follow the guideline of the farmer, of the sower, and be wildly liberal, be generous in your seed because from it will come a bountiful crop. Now the principle here is really one about a mount. He's talking about the amount of money that we should be giving back to the Lord's Word, to the extension of his kingdom reign and gospel ministry, and the amount is one that should be generous. And I recognize in our culture, in general, it's when it comes to religious things and financial things, it's moderation and everything, and particularly in our day where there is economic uncertainty, that economic uncertainty was slow in hitting Houston, but it's here. And I recognize that for some of you out there, this is a very tough message, and you might be a little perturbed that we would even be addressing it, given the circumstances. And I recognize that, and that we're not all in the same shoes this morning. God recognizes that even more. The idea here is one of responsibility and not allowing the circumstances of the day to cause you to freeze up, to hoard, to be overly conservative, recognizing that this is an investment issue that you do not want to miss. The greatest investment in all the universe is that kingdom investment, where if you give generously, there's an extraordinary return beyond measure that you can never imagine. Now this is not talking about what you might know of as the health, wealth, prosperity, gospel. I do not see anywhere in the scriptures a necessary one-to-one correspondence between if you give, you're going to become a rich person, or if you're rich already, and you give a bunch, you're going to be even richer in terms of material blessing. Now that ends up being true, in other words, it's a general principle, but I think the Lord tends to bless, and I've heard from many of you how you neglected to say tithe, and we'll talk about that in a minute, for many years, and finally you did, and lo and behold, the Lord blessed in a remarkable way. There's even a passage in the scripture that I think opens up that as a viable option. Malachi chapter three, the last book in the Old Testament, some refer to it as the first Italian prophet, Malachi, but it really is Malachi, and he says this, bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need. See, God is saying, friends, Corinthians, Christ the King family. There's a problem with being tight-fisted even in times of economic uncertainty. The problem is this, that when you have that tight, clenched fist, you are unable to have an open hand to receive the bounty of the Lord's blessing that he is ready to pour out upon you. God is ready to blow you away, and that may be an increased blessing materially, but you know what? It clearly is referring to spiritual blessing, and that's where Paul goes a little bit later in the passage, verse 10, he says, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity. See, that's the idea. Don't hoard, don't have the clenched fist, but give generously and watch the Lord bless your soul. Why? Why is that an important issue? Because don't you see that money, Jesus singled out as above all else, a master, or a servant. You cannot serve both God and money, Jesus said. And if we're not actively fighting against money, serve being our master, then you can guarantee it will control you. That's what a master does. Controls you, it controls your thinking. We become obsessed with it. And then we find that instead of being an in-control person, disciplined, conservative in our financial thinking, we're actually enslaved and we're out of control. And we miss the blessing that God has planned for us. Well, how should we give generously? Well, he says in verse 7, each one must give as he has made up his mind, all right, but the point here, very practical, planning. We must be people in this area that plan well, steward, everything that we have is God. The cattle on a thousand hills has God everything that you have in your bank account, every asset that is part of your estate, it's all God's. And he has blessed you with that to be his steward. And the question is, have you been wise and prudent in the planning? A lot of times we think that spontaneous giving is, there's something more spiritual about it. If I just wait in the service for that inspirational sermon, and some of you say, boy, you're going to have to wait a long time for that one, but that spontaneous moment where you just open up your wallet, and you give spontaneously studies that have been done on that show time and again, spontaneous giving is far less radical, far more conservative and moderate than planned steward ship, determining in your mind what you're going to give. And just in a very practical aside here, we now have in this church a class called the Crown Ministries course. The first group, the guinea pig, so to speak, went through it, John and Gail led that in their house, and I know from what people have said, that was just a great blessing. Not just in terms of your wallet, but in terms of marriages that were avoiding this issue that is top of the charts together with sexuality in a marriage that brings down marriages. Now with this class, we have a very tangible way to help bring peace in this area of tension. We're going to be starting other classes, even contact John in the office about that. We would also encourage you to really begin to think about estate planning, even if you're young. Don't wait years and years and years, be thinking now about what the Lord has entrusted to you and what he may be entrusting to you and how that might be best used for his purposes in your life. There's all sorts of people in this church that could help you think through that. If you would like some referrals, again, you can contact John. John has a little experience himself as a former bank CEO in that area. The last thing on that point that I would say is begin to think of the tide, which means 10 percent, use frequently throughout the old testament, begin to think of that as a minimum. You're going gulp, what are you talking about, a minimum? The New Testament curiously never brings up the issue of tide. Why? Well, he said, well, because it's done away with, you know, that's part of the law, Leo. Well, the evangelical church in our country must have bought into that line because the average Christian in our country gives less than 3 percent of their income to all charitable giving, much less to the local church. We can do far better than that, and we do. Do far better than that here at Christ, the King, I believe. But use that as a benchmark minimum because what you see in the New Testament is Jesus says, give generously, give lavishly and liberally that you might see that reaping and sowing principle in your life. That leads, secondly, to the guideline of the heart, the guideline of the heart. This is what he says there in that second verse, that we should give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And some of you may know that that word for cheerful there is the Greek word, halaryon, where we get hilarious. In some of you say, boy, there's nothing hilarious about this. But the idea here is that when our hearts are in the right place, it is joyful to be able to give generously. That is, to combine the first G with the second point, we should give generously and gladly. And our heart becomes something of a barometer of how things are going spiritually in our life, because money tends to be such a God to us. When we give begrudgingly, as he says here, not reluctantly or under compulsion, when we steal that way, then we know things are out of kilter. God becomes a creditor, and I'm in debt to him. And so it's a duty that I need to pay. This is one of the reasons, frankly, that your session has decided throughout the history of this church not to have a pledge program in terms of our ordinary operating budget year to year, because we recognize that the Lord is it work among us and that we stand to bring in far greater heavenly resources, if we trust his spirit to be at work in individual's hearts, so that there might be this dawning and emerging interest at a heart level to the generous. Far more generous than you might have been on January 1st, marking out that pledge card. And yet it's a very tough thing to be thinking about the heart. It's far easier, I think, to think of God as the president of a club, and the church is sort of like a club, and we pay dues to the club, and that's just something that you do. It's another bill that you have, but the Bible doesn't want us to think it that way. It wants us to think of this as a heart issue, a principal issue of discipleship before the Lord. Showing Lord, this is a way that I demonstrate to you how much I love you, how grateful I am, how much I want to follow you. Calvin talked about the idol of materialism as panting after the possessions of others, panting like a dog. You know what a dog is like in the middle of a Houston summer, you know, they barely get outside and they're just like that. That's exactly the picture when we're enslaved by the idol of materialism, isn't it? We're just like that dog out there panting, but when we come at a heart level, back to God and say, God, order my mind and my heart according to the principles that are true to your word, and the priorities of your kingdom, then there is this refreshment, it's like that bowl of water is there, and we can lap it up gladly. So this speaks of the attitude, a glad attitude, whereas the first point spoke of the amount which should be generous. Now, how can all this happen? Because frankly, friends, this is difficult, far more difficult than we could ever imagine. In fact, the way that Martin Luther put it is that he said, what we really need are three conversions in life. The first one is a conversion of the heart, the second is a conversion of the mind, and the third is a conversion of the purse or the wallet. I mean, it's that critical, that vital, and we need in a sense that reconversion in this area, so many of us do, that we might deal humbly and honestly in a broken way before the Lord, and you know what that third principle then is because the only thing that melts a sinner's heart is grace. The third and final guideline is the guideline of grace. The word grace is all over this passage, and if you look at the larger passage beginning at verse 8, you see it right there at the beginning. We want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. That grace he was basically using, this is a little jab, subtle jab by the apostle here, because again the Corinthians are sort of the elite, and they're down in the south, I'm not going to make any southern Yankee parallels here, but you can make it what you will. The Macedonians were up in the north and very much despised, looked down upon by the elite Corinthians, and Paul saying, look, these poor northerners like the Philippians or the Boreans, look how exemplary they are, like the widow who only gave a little might, but she didn't have much. Now you can heed their example, grace there at the beginning, but again look at the end of this passage, verse 15 of chapter 9, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. That word is goddess and great, it's the word for grace, and he uses it there in verse 15 and in verse 14, and in several other places throughout, here's the point, Paul was saying, look, don't even begin to think about this issue of giving until you have allowed grace to saturate your being. And this isn't a one-time shot, this is an everyday experience, it's like that glass of water that you and I need, I mean the experts say what, 8 to 10 a day, we need that, 8 to 10 times a day, that glass of refreshing grace that reminds us of the principle and the person behind the principle in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9, would you look at that verse with me now. This whole passage turns on this verse, 2 Corinthians 8, 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. Don't you understand friends, that this becomes moralistic mumbo jumbo, if we simply think of it in terms of okay I'm going to start over and do a much better job and be a good manager of my money and give my due to the church, don't do that, first come to the Lord and allow the treasure of the cross to pierce your soul in a fresh way that you might say indeed you are the bankrupt individual he's talking about in that verse, that you and I are spiritually bankrupt in and of ourselves and how kind of the Lord in his grace and in his richness to sin Jesus down to the earth, to live 33 years under human conditions that impoverished the glory of the divine one, that he might one day hang on a tree and be pierced and scourged for all the shame and sin and poverty spiritually that is yours and mine. As you and I begin to trust in that and drink of that daily, oh how it takes that clenched fist and begins to pry it open, it takes that heart of stone and melts it and engenders in me, not only a generous disposition in giving but a glad and even hilarious one. And you know the end result, I don't want you to miss this, it's what our church is built around, the end result is not, this passage is not about money, you know what it's about, it's about worship, did you see that? Look at the end of the passage, the last several verses, verse 11, for instance, he said you will be enriched in every way for all your generosity which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, not only taking care of the quote ministry needs, but is what? Overflowing in many thanksgiving to God, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift, thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus Christ who was rich but became poor so that you and I through our spiritual poverty might revel in the riches of the Lamb of God who takes away every sin and enriches us in every way, that grace that makes us generous and glad in giving. Ultimately, causes us and through us, who knows who else, the nations as they come among us here at Christ the King, all of us together in our thanksgiving overflowing that they might and we might together with them, redound to the glory of God alone, praise be to the high king of heaven. Oh God, bless your name and with these very difficult truths, we pray that the Holy Spirit would now weave them into our hearts, convict us of sin, but most importantly, Lord, turn us back around and show us how blessed we are in Christ, stand together in peace. This required of us also told us what change of heart it is only the gospel of grace and heart. We have before us in the Lord's supper, grace made physical, if you have not come to the Lord, Jesus Christ, as your Savior, grace required for that and I would exhort you now to do that because if you do not, this table, these elements, do you put in blood of Christ in the bread and wine before you cannot save you, only trust in the Lord can save you, but if you are a Christian, this is in the words of Leo's that are for a tall glass of water for you today.