The Reality of Tough Conversations

We all know this to be true: no matter what you do in life, no matter your vocation, there will always be tough conversations that you have to face. A mechanic might have to tell someone their engine is blown. A CPA may have to explain that a client didn’t withhold enough. A physician might have to discuss lifestyle changes or deliver a difficult diagnosis.

These moments are hard because the most difficult truths to hear are the ones that intersect with our lives in a way that requires change. And let's be honest—we don’t love change, especially when it forces us to do something uncomfortable, inconvenient, or challenging.

As believers, we see this all the time in Scripture. If you've followed God for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced a “Jonah moment”—a time when you knew God was nudging you in a direction, but you didn’t want to go. Sometimes, God calls us to something we don’t want to do, and that can be tough.

Hold onto that thought, because we’re coming back to it at the end of this message.

Series Overview: "It’s Who We Are"

We’re in a series called It’s Who We Are. This is something we revisit every year—sometimes under a different name—but always with the same purpose: to refocus on the values that define our church.

Years ago, when our staff was much smaller, we set aside time to pray, discuss, and define what would make us a church that reaches the unchurched by being intentional neighbors who reflect Christ. We didn’t set out to come up with a list, but we ended up with eight core values—foundational principles that shape our church culture.

Why do we do this? Because culture eats vision for lunch. You can have the best vision in the world, but if the culture of your church, team, or organization doesn’t support it, that vision will never be realized.

The big idea behind this series is simple: If we don’t define who we are, someone else will do it for us. Churches, like any growing organization, can unintentionally become something they never intended to be. We don’t want that. We want to remain faithful to what God has called us to do, just as Paul told Agrippa, “I have been faithful to the heavenly vision.”

Over the years, we’ve found two things to be true about this series:

First, for people who are new, this series helps them understand what kind of church this is and whether it’s a place they want to call home. Second, for those who have been here a long time, it helps us stay aligned with our mission.

A Cultural Pillar: Being Contagiously Outrageous

One of our values—one that I don’t talk about as much but is still central to who we are—is being contagiously outrageous.

The tagline for this value is: Since God is extreme in both His love and generosity, so are we.

If you look at our church—at the things we do, the people we partner with, and the way we serve—you’ll see that we are known for going above and beyond. We don’t do things halfway. We do them with excellence, in a way that almost feels outrageous—and that kind of generosity is contagious.

At the heart of this value is generosity. We want to be known as a church that is kind, generous, and willing to go the extra mile.

And we already know this. We know that generosity is a core part of Christianity. If I stood up here and read, "Blessed are the stingy," you’d immediately say, "That’s not Christianity." If I said, "Blessed are the self-absorbed," you’d say, "Come on, Chip, that’s not right!" We know we are called to be generous.

Paul’s Perspective on Generosity (Philippians 4)

Paul, in Philippians 4, shares a profound perspective on generosity. But his writing style can be tough to follow. Even Peter said that Paul writes things that are "hard to understand" (2 Peter 3).

At the end of Philippians, Paul says:

"I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no opportunity."

The context here is that Paul was in prison, and in the first century, prisoners depended on outside support for food and basic needs. The Philippian church sent Paul a financial gift to support him.

But then Paul says something interesting:

"Not that I’m speaking of being in need."

Wait—Paul, you’re in prison. Of course you’re in need!

Yet Paul insists that he is not in need, even though he has needs. He explains that he has learned to be content in every situation—whether in abundance or in need.

Then comes the famous verse:

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

This verse isn’t about running a three-minute mile. Paul is saying that no matter what situation he finds himself in, he has learned to be content because Christ is enough.

Key Lessons on Generosity

Giving and generosity should not be a difficult topic for us as believers. It should be as natural as talking about prayer, Bible reading, or serving others.

John says in 1 John 3:17, "If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?"

Generosity is not just about money—it’s about the heart. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) Our financial priorities reflect what we truly value.

And here’s the thing: we are not owners—we are stewards. Everything we have belongs to God. From the very beginning, in Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve stewardship over creation. Our time, talent, and treasure are gifts from God, and one day, we will give an account for how we used them.

Tithing and offerings are not the same thing.

Tithing is the first 10% that belongs to God. Offerings are what we give above and beyond the tithe. Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse." Jesus affirmed tithing in Matthew 23:23, and the book of Hebrews references it without negating its relevance.

If every Christian tithed, imagine what churches could do for the Kingdom of God.

Paul also highlights the reciprocal nature of giving when he says:

"It’s not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit."

When we give, God blesses us—not necessarily with material wealth, but with joy, spiritual growth, and a heart more aligned with His.

Final Encouragement: Getting Where You Need to Be

Maybe you feel like you’re not in a position to give. Maybe you don’t know how to get there.

I get it. I once found myself at the top of a steep ski slope in Colorado, completely exhausted, with no idea how I was going to get down. I ended up sliding on my backside all the way down the mountain before eventually getting help.

Sometimes, you know where you need to go, but you don’t know how to get there. That’s okay. The important thing is that you keep moving toward where God is calling you.

Because here’s what I want you to hear:

You will never, ever, ever go all in for Jesus and look back and regret it.

Trust Him in every area—including generosity—and watch what He does in your life.

So you all know this to be true, and we all know this to be true. I know this to be true that no matter what you do in life, no matter what your vocation is, no matter what there's always a tough conversation that you may have to have. I mean, if it's it could be a mechanic, and it may be that your engines blown, you know, you don't. You didn't really want to have that. If you're CPA, you didn't withhold enough, you know, or whatever, maybe. Or if you're a physician, and I would think for sure, if you're a physician, like having to talk about, like, lifestyle choices, like, Yeah, you can't eat this anymore. Mr. Smith, you know, that probably doesn't go over very well. Or, like, you know, end of life issues, or a tough diagnosis. I mean, we can all think of all these things that would be difficult conversations to have, but what we do know, and I think we all would agree with this, that when you boil down those tough conversations, when there's a tough conversation and somebody has to hear something or whatever, what makes it tough is this, is that the most difficult bits of information for us to hear is people to process, are the ones that intersect, they come right into intersection with our current lives, in a way where there needs to be a change, and that can become really difficult for us. We just we don't love change a whole lot, especially when it's something that we have to do, that we don't really want to do, or maybe we don't like to do, or maybe it requires some thought, or whatever, and this becomes a challenge, because, as you know, when we go to Scripture, there's so many things in here that intersect with our lives that do require a change, and sometimes that can be really difficult. I mean, I would think you would agree with me, if you are a Christian and you follow God for any time that sometimes there's things in scripture or things you hear, or sermons that you hear, or things that you read in Scripture, or things that you've prayed about that you know that God's moving you or nudging you, and you just sort of don't want to do it, like those Jonah moments. Just don't want to do sometimes what God wants us to do, and and those can be tough. So I want you to hold that thought. Just hold that thought of difficult conversations, change and all of that, because we bring that back at the very, very end of this message. But if we get in the message, I just remind everybody, we're in a series in a series called It's who we are, and the reason we're doing this series is we do this every year. It's under a different name every year, but we go back and we look at some of the things that make our church what it is. Many years ago, we had a much smaller staff, but we went off site, and we got together, we talked, we prayed, we discussed, and we said, what would be the things that would have to happen that would, that would, that would allow us to be a church that reaches the unchurched by being intentional neighbors that reflect Christ. In other words, that's our vision, and we want to be faithful to that. What would have to be the underpinnings, what would have to be the culture of our church, because culture eats vision for lunch, and so you want to make sure that the culture is right. And we came up with eight things. We didn't have a number. We just came up with eight things that we sort of felt were the foundational underpinnings of what enabled us to reach the unchurched by being intentional neighbors that reflect Christ. And you can see them. They're all over the church. They're hanging up, and they have little, you know, a catchy little phrase, and then something underneath, because we wanted it to be something that people could memorize and and remember. And so we felt like this was really important every year to come back and remind ourselves of this. And so in this series, the big idea that we're working under, and I tend to try to work under a big idea in any series, is that if we don't define who we are, then someone else will do it for us and what we've learned. And I think you I think you know this. I mean, I think we all sort of know this is any organization, any any team, any church, whatever it may be, if you don't stay sort of on vision, on focus, you can become something that you didn't want to be. In fact, many churches that grow, and our church obviously has grown become something different. You can ask people who've been a part of churches that grew rapidly, they used to be like this, and now they're like this. We don't want to do that. We want to be like when Paul stood before Agrippa and he said, I've been faithful to the heavenly vision. We want to be faithful to what God has called our church to do. And what we found is two things over the years, when we do this sort of rewind of who we are and what we do, we found two things that absolutely are true. First of all, people that are new. A lot of people decide to come back to church or try new churches in January, if you talk about this, at the beginning of the year, people are really able to go, Okay, this is a church that I can go to, or this is a church that I can't go to, and you can make a well informed decisions. We found this has been really good for people that are coming back to church or new we've also found it's been really good for all of us who call Grace home because it keeps us focused on the things that we're doing. So this weekend, I want to take another one of our cultural pillars that we feel strongly about here. I don't probably talk about this one as much, but it's nonetheless, it's one of the biggest things that we are around here. And I want to sort of talk about it and sort of flesh it out a little bit so that you can understand why it's a big deal. And it's this idea of being contagiously outrageous. What does what does that mean? Well, the tagline that we have is, since God is extreme in both his love and generosity, so are we. And if you.

Look at our church, and you look at the things that we do, and the people that we partner with, and all this stuff, we are known for being someone who does above and beyond. We're known for someone who, who does it really excellent. In other words, we do it. It's almost an outrageous way we do it, and it becomes contagious, like people really get, they got, yeah, this is awesome. We love what's doing it, and so we want to, we want to capture that. And sort of the foundation of this particular part of who we are as a church is, is this idea of generosity, that we want to be people that are generous. We want to be people that are kind. We want to be people that go the extra mile. Because you know this. I mean, I don't, I don't have to tell you this, but you know this, you know that if I got up here and said, All right, we're gonna open up Matthew five and read the Beatitudes. Blessed are the stingy,

you know you're gonna go, that's not, that's not Christianity, you know that. And if I was like, oh, okay, Blessed are the self absorbed, you'd be like, no, come on chip, yeah, because you like, we know we're supposed to be people that are kind. We know that we're supposed to be people that are generous. This shouldn't be some subject that's crazy. We know this to be true. And so as I was thinking about, you know, preaching about being contagiously outrageous, preaching about generosity, preaching about all of these great things. There was so many texts that I could have used, but I

chose one that I thought, Man, this is profound, and I don't want you to please lean in here. I think if we can understand what this text is saying, it's life changing. I mean, it's absolutely life changing. And the text has a couple of things going against it, in some ways, that make it tough to understand fully what's going on. First, it's written by Paul. And if you ever read Paul, and you really studied Paul, and I don't know how many of you all have studied Paul at an academic level, but one of the things that we know scholars that study Paul is that Paul uses very long sentences, like,

if you've ever read Paul and go, Where are you going? Man, thank God. Hold on. Yeah. So even Peter, you can check this Second Peter, chapter three. Peter says Paul writes things that are hard to understand.

Peter says that about Paul, seriously, he can get long winded. So sometimes, when you're reading Paul, he starts here, but he ends here. And you got to really follow to see where all that's going, because he sort of throws in a bunch of stuff along the way. So we got to really pay attention to the text. Secondly, it comes at the end of a book. And I don't know if you're like me, maybe you're not like me, but a lot of times when I'm reading scripture, at least, it's happened in the past, I'll get to the end of a book, and I'm excited that I'm at the end of the book, because I can start a new one, and sometimes I don't catch some of the great stuff at the end of a book because I was so worried about getting it done. I know you all aren't like that. You all are sanctified Christians. It's a 10 o'clock service. It's like that. But sometimes I miss some things, or I've missed some things in my life, because it's at the end of the book. So we got Paul, it's at the end of the book, and so we got some work to do, but I want you to really lean in, and I want you to hear the text. I want us to read the text, and you got to pay attention, because if you don't, Paul's going to do all this, and it can be really easy to lose train of thought, but he's going somewhere. So let's look at this text together, because I think this is life transformational type of stuff. Paul says I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. This happens to come at the end of the epistle that was written to the church at Philippi. If you remember, in the book of Acts, the church in Philippi was started in a jail cell. Paul and Silas have been put in jail. They beaten in the midnight hour. They start rejoicing and singing and everything. An earthquake hits there. All the jail cells open, the chains drop. Nobody leaves. They're all stunned, because they probably don't know what it means for somebody to rejoice after they've been beaten. The Philippian jailer comes in. He's ready to kill himself because he thinks everybody's left. They haven't. That's where the church starts. So when Paul writes the book of Philippians and he says, Rejoice, and again, I say, rejoice, they don't hear that as just words. They know Paul lives this out because they know Paul. Paul says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, not a little bit greatly. Well, what have you? What are you rejoicing about? Man? I want to know, if I'm reading this, I want to know Paul. What are you rejoicing about? Greatly? Well, we're not going to really know for many, many verses, till we get there, because Paul sort of meanders around. So let's, let's pay attention here and see how he's doing this. Because this is life changing stuff. He says, I rejoice in the Lord greatly

that now. So this isn't like in the past or in the future. This is right now as he's writing. He's probably writing from Rome or Ephesus. He's in prison, and he's writing to the church at Philippi, and he says, I Rejoice greatly that now at length, you have revived your concern for me. What does that mean? Well, in the first century, when you were in prison, the only way that you were able to get anything done is that people would have to give to you, because.

Is, if you didn't get given food or money, you didn't eat, they didn't bring any. Oh, poor Paul, here's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You know, if it was southern Rome, it would biscuits and gravy, I guess, but, but, you know, they didn't do that. You had to raise whatever it was you just died. Plus, Paul's wanting to write letters, and having scribes to write letters was not cheap. And so he says, Hey, I greatly rejoiced, because you have revived your concern for me. What is he saying? Is he's saying he has received a gift from them, a financial gift, so that Paul can do some of the things that he's doing. And he says, You were indeed concerned for me, but you didn't have an opportunity. In other words, he was saying, Hey, you guys are awesome. Because when you see a need, you feel a need like that's that's what you do, which is sort of what we should be doing as Christianity, as Christians, anyway, but then, but then he starts this meandering, because you start to think, okay, he's thankful that they gave him money. He's

not unthankful that they gave him money. But that's not what he's saying. And we're going to see here, as we go through here, there's a larger principle here, that if we get it changes our lives. Says, I rejoiced. You've revived your concern for me, and you were indeed, I know you were concerned, but you didn't have an opportunity. He says, not that I'm speaking of being in need. Well, Paul, you are in need. Yeah, I'm in need, but I don't want you to think that my need is the reason that I want you to give or whatever, because I'm not in need, even though I'm in need.

See, Paul, can be really like, what? Hold on. You're in need. You needed something, no, but I'm not. I'm not in need. So we got to figure this out. So not that I'm speaking of being in need. Oh, are you, don't you need something? Yeah, I need something, but I don't really need that. There's something more going on here. So let me explain Paul saying Not that I'm speaking of being in need because I've learned I've learned something. I've learned that in whatever situation I am to be content. I've learned something. I mean, I have a need. I'm grateful that you all gave to the need. But it's not because I have a need. There's something greater going on. I mean, I have a need, but it's not the need that I really want you to give to because I've learned that when I'm in a need, I don't really have a need because I've learned that I can be content in whatever situation that I'm in. Even though I have a need, I'm not really in need because I've learned to be content. So there's a lot going on here. We got to pay attention. But I will say this we could do well as American Christians, to learn how to be content in every situation that we find ourselves. Can I get an amen on that one, right?

One of the, one of the fundamental flaws, I think, of American Christianity, is that we are we're circumstantial by nature. I call it circumstantial Christianity. You know when people like, Oh, I got a new job. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

On Friday I lost that job. Where did God go? I can't believe God did this to me. That's you're letting your circumstances dictate everything. Paul's like, I'm in need, but I'm not in need because I've learned how to be content. He says, in fact, I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I've learned the secret

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Not that I want to be hungry. It's not that I want to be in need. It's not that I don't want to be brought low, I mean, but I've learned something. I've learned that my circumstances are not dictating how I live. So it's I'm so happy that you gave,

but I'm not happy that you gave because I had a need, because I didn't have a need, because I've learned in whatever situation that I've been in, I've learned that I can be content no matter what's going on. So I'm not trying to use my situation to get something from you

at all, because I can be content regardless. I don't love being hungry, I don't love not having food, I don't love those things, but I've learned to be content. Because what I've learned is I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. In other words, no matter what goes on in my life, this is not, this is not how to run a three minute mile. Verse, I'm not going to run a three minute mile no matter how much I quote Philippians, 413, folks. In fact, I'm not gonna run a three minute mile at all if you find me dead on a jogging track. Somebody killed me and put me there. Okay, man, so I'm not against running. I do for my problems. I mean, I so it's not that but, but what I'm saying is, is Paul's saying, Hey, listen, regardless of what situation is, regardless of the whatever's going on, I've learned that Christ is enough for me even though I got a need. I mean, I so glad you gave, but I'm not really grateful that you gave, although I am thankful that you gave. But there's a larger picture going on, because it's not that I have a need, even though I do have a need, I don't have a need because I've learned contentment in Christ, and I don't want you to be doing what you're doing what you're doing because you think that I'm needy or I need something because I'm okay in Jesus. But there's something larger here

he says,

but it was kind of you to share my trouble like I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful that you gave because that's really good, and it's helped me, and I see it.

And I'm thankful, but I'm thankful for something far greater than this. There's something more at play, and it was kind of you to share my trouble like it was, really was awesome. I mean, I was in trouble, but I wasn't in trouble because I can do whatever comes my way. Christ is sufficient, but you gave and I'm grateful for something. What's he grateful for? He says, and you know that when I first started off after I'd had been converted and gone to gone away for a while and came back on the scene and started preaching the gospel, he says, when I left Macedonia, he said, there wasn't any other churches that entered into partnership with me and giving and receiving. We have to come back to that. That's an interesting phrase, except you only says, in fact, even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. But I don't want you to think that it's about my needs and I'm trying to get something from you, because there's something more at play. And now finally, Paul tells us why he's so grateful about their gift. He says,

It's not that I seek your gift.

I mean, I'm glad you gave church. I'm glad you Philippians gave to me because it really helped me to do what I needed to do, and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that you shared in my trouble, but I don't want you to think that somehow I'm trying to get something from you, because I would be okay, whether you gave or not, because I can do whatever I need to do in Jesus. So it's not that I'm seeking the gift, because it's not what I want. There's something deeper. He says, what I seek is the fruit that increases,

to your credit. He says, What I realize is, is that when you're generous, when you're kind, when you share trouble, when you get involved in filling a need, and you do it for the right reason, you cannot help but being blessed by your heavenly Father,

you can't escape it. Now listen, I know, I know some of you are going to go, others guys on TV that you abuse this. I know we're not a prosperity church here. We're a Jesus Church. So go ahead and get that out of your head. That's not, that's not what we're talking about here. But I can tell you this, if you do the things God calls you to do, people go, Oh man, you preached on prayer. Started praying. You won't believe what happened. I'm like, Yeah, I will, I will believe anything, because Jesus said, If we prayed, there's no mountains could be moved. I'm not shocked. You go, oh man, I went home and, like, started living First Corinthians, seven in my marriage. You won't believe I'm like, Yeah, I will.

They're like, why would you believe? Because God is faithful to whatever he says he'll do. Like, he's 100% faithful. Oh, Chip, I started reading the Bible. Bitch, changing my life. You won't believe it. No, I believe it. I'm a pastor. I do this all the time.

Most pastors get to do it every seven days. I get to do it every six because we have Saturday night

services. People go, Oh, I was generous and kind man, of course, because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

Like this is, this is, you know. And so if you're, if you're new here, you know, and you're going, oh, man, I think they're speaking on generosity, giving, whatever it is today, you know. And you feel like that, you know. Oh, it's one of those churches. It's not find 10 or 12 people after church, and they'll say, no, pastorship does not do this message. He does it usually, once a year, talks about giving and generosity, and it's, it's, it's, it's, I mean, it's not, it's not, but I wouldn't be faithful, like if you think that I could really preach all 66 books of the Bible, and somehow I could not talk about generosity or being giving, or any of those things. I wouldn't be a good Bible teacher if I didn't teach all of it. So I want to, I want to give you some things to think about, in terms of giving, in terms of generosity, that are not just finances. There are some of that is included, but there's our time, and there's our talent and there's our treasure. So to give you some things to think about, I want you to really lean in here, because this is like the one time during the year that I talk about this, and I really want you to hear this, because I think it's important that we hear this, and I think it's important that we understand what Paul is saying. So first of all, I would say giving a generosity shouldn't be a tough topic. It shouldn't be, I mean, it really should not be a tough topic at all. It shouldn't be any tougher than prayer or Bible reading or, you know, devotional life, or how you treat your kids or your neighbors shouldn't be any different. I mean, sometimes it is, but it shouldn't be, because you know this. I mean, we should, by nature as believers. We should be people who see opportunity and need it like, you know, no matter where you're at right now, with being generous and giving and all that stuff, you know this. You know that anybody that gets up here and preaches and says, you know, when you.

Drive by on the interstate, and there's a lady there with some kids with a flat tire. You just drive her right on by in Jesus name. No, you know, yeah, probably, or at least, pick up the phone and call something like we know that we should be people that are kind, so it shouldn't be a tough thing. Paul doesn't think it's a tough thing. He says, Hey, you guys were concerned. You didn't have an opportunity. Now you do. You saw a need, you filled it. John, who lived with Jesus, was a disciple of Jesus. Here's the way he said it, and he didn't think he was being snarky when he said this. It's funny. We read it and go, ooh. He didn't write it thinking Ooh. He wrote it thinking everybody would go, amen. That's just the way it is. John. Amen. Here's what John says in First John 317 if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? His Church would have been like, that's right. We read and go, Oh, no, we shouldn't, because we should be people that when we talk about generosity and giving, should be like, Yeah, that's right. Amen, 100% but here's the reality, giving and generosity is a heart issue.

It just is. It's a heart issue. Jesus always ties it to the heart. He says, Where your treasure is, your heart will be. Why does he know that? Because he knows, he knows that it's a fundamental element of our life. You know when people say, How do I look at my Christianity? Well, I mean you prayer life's important. Devotional life's important. Way you treat others is important. Another another peek into your life as a Christian is giving. Is you look at where you give, and you can see where your heart goes. And that's not to give anybody a hard time. That's just to say this is what it is. And if you go, Oh, man, he's getting me on this one, there's other people that when I preach on, like, living right, or, you know, preach on prayer. Oh, you got me chip. I hadn't been praying for a while. Do you think I'm preaching that to give you a hard time? No, I'm trying to teach you this because it's for your benefit. It's not it's not for my benefit, it's not church doesn't need something from you. We've, we've stewarded. Well we could, y'all could not show up for months and months, and we still would pay every staff member, and still things would go on because we've done good. So it's not like I'm trying to get something, like we're in need. Tell you what the light bill is three months past due, unless you all give today, lights going off. No, not doing that at all. I'm preaching this because it's a benefit in many ways for you, but it's a heart issue. The second thing I'll tell you, this has been a big thing for me. Maybe it's not for you. Maybe you know this, but it for me, it was a really big thing to learn is that we're stewards of what we have. We're not owners.

We're stewards. Everything that we have is God's it was hard for me to learn, because I like to be an owner. Y'all are probably more sanctified than me, okay, but I liked my stuff. I know you all don't like your stuff. You all just love the Lord so much. But for me, I and this was, this was, this was a very freeing subject to learn. And you know, you go back to the original creation, when God created Adam and Eve. It's his world. It's not their world, but, but he gives them stewardship over it. He says, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. So do it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves you, you have, you have a responsibility. Listen to me. This is, this is this is really important to learn about life. Is that our talent, our time and treasure, are a gift from God. All of it is a gift, and we're going to one day, give an account for how we steward them. Every one of us, how'd you spend your time? Paul says, Redeem the time, for the days are evil. How did you spend your talent? How did you spend what God has given you? These are all things that are important. And when it comes to finances, is a steward, if you're finance, if you're being a steward there, you can trust God to provide for us, because God's going to provide. Let me tell you something God will provide for you better than truest or chase, or whatever else your 401, K is in, or whatever else. I can assure you that things of this world will never provide for you as well as your heavenly Father will. Okay, and if we're if he's providing, we can use resources that He's given us to I call it the the open hand. God puts more in a hand that's open than he does in a hand that's closed.

He can he trust you? Can he trust us and listen to me? I because I don't want you to hear what I'm not saying. It's not that God's opposed to us having things, but he realizes how easy it is for things to have us

right? Come on, some of y'all, some of y'all, need to go, Yeah, that's right,

yeah. My things got me they keep me up at night. I'm constantly looking at everything on my phone. Did it go up or down? Did it I mean, I mean, you know, you mean some of us are that way, right? I mean, I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I'm just trying to be faithful to Scripture about this area of life as well. You follow what I'm saying. Okay, so this next port point is.

Going to be the tough point. I'm just going to tell you right now. Let's go ahead and pull the band aid off. Let's talk about it here, some of you all are going to disagree with me. That's fine. You can disagree at your own peril. I'm just kidding, but it's not a salvific issue. It's not a heaven or hell issue. It's not that at all. But I got to teach what I feel like is biblical. I got to teach the best that I can biblically stuff here, some of you all still not agree with me, that's fine. I'm not trying. I just want you to hear my heart because I think it's important. I think this is an area that churches and pastors, and I know why we do it. Sometimes it's tough to talk about this stuff, but we don't do a very good job of teaching our people biblical truth here on this particular issue. And so here's the here's the point, and then I want to clarify it, and I want to explain it. And then if you don't agree with me, that's fine. I still love you. Come back next week and we'll be talking about something different anyway. And this is to me, this is really important. Tithing and offerings are not the same thing. They're not the same thing. I think most Christians think so. Think most Christians think as long as I'm generous, it's all good, and I don't want to take that away from you. I'm glad you're generous, like I never want to take that away from you. But if we don't understand what it means to tithe, we don't mean understand what it means to give an offering. I don't think we're understanding scripture very well. Tithing. You may not know what that is. You may not have I think I heard that word one time going up. Okay, it's the first 10% of our income is God's. You may say, I don't like that. Well, let me ask you a question. If I were to say to you, if you got up in the morning, would it be better for you to start off the day in prayer? Of course it would, because you'd say it'd be important to start off the first part of my day with prayer. Would it be important to start off first of your part of your day reading scripture? Well, yeah, probably so why? Because you've given the first parts to God. Well, the same thing is, comes to our finances. Think about this. The God of the universe, who owns everything, says you can have 90% of it. That's like, that's such a deal. I mean, it's such a deal. You wouldn't do that. You wouldn't say, Okay, I'm gonna give you this, and all I want back is TBI. I want all of it back. You know, it's 10% you may say, where do you get this from? How do you get this idea? Whatever. Well, I mean, we could go and spend a lot of time, but Malachi 310 is a really good passage. Here it says, Bring the tithe into the storehouse. Notice here it doesn't say give. You can't give a tithe. You bring a tithe. It's God's not yours, not mine, it's his. You bring it. Can't Give it. He says, Bring the tithe to the storehouse. Why? Because when people give the first parts of their money to the to the Lord and it goes to his house, then the house has the ability to do what it needs to do. Do you know that the average Christian in America gives 1.5 to 2% of their income period that's to charities, churches, everything. Do you realize if every Christian in America did what God told them to do? Do you realize what the churches around this world would be able to do for the kingdom of God? It would be unbelievable what could be done. God knows what he's doing, and he says, put me to the test. This is crazy, isn't it? Like he never says, put me to the test. For anything he says, put me to the test. Watch, watch how I respond. And I know some of you, I know I know what you're going to say is you're going to say, well, I don't believe in tithing. That's Old Testament stuff. And okay, and that's fine. You know you don't have to believe that. You don't have to believe that. I'm just going to tell you why I think you should. And I'm also going to tell you that I've never met anybody, and maybe you're the anomaly. So please don't take it snarky. I've never met anybody who told me I don't believe that Christians are supposed to tithe that gives anywhere near 10%

it's usually used to not give. And last time I checked, I don't remember us ever singing, I surrender 10%

I surrender. I surrender. All right, it's all his so. So if we're going to debate this like, let's think about this. So when you say tithing is tied to the law and we're not under the law, let's talk about this. Tithing was before the law. It doesn't have any I mean, it's in the law, but it has nothing to do with the law. It was before the law. In fact, Cain and Abel bring their first fruits because they know that's the right thing to do. They already know they should bring the first fruits all the way back before there was ever any law. In fact, there must have been a standard too to giving because one of them was rejected.

Not only that, but Abraham ties to Melchizedek, who's Melchizedek, probably a pre Incarnate Christ.

He's tithing. Jacob's tithing. This is way before the law. You go, Well, okay, well, Jesus never taught tithing. No. Jesus did teach to tithe. You go, really? Yeah, come on, guys, I'm a scholar. You think I'm gonna tell you something that's not true. Jesus taught to tithe. We're at chip Matthew 2323 go home and read it for yourself. Don't just believe me. Be a Berean. Acts 17, says the Bereans were more noble than thessalonicas because they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things were so who was their teacher? The apostle Paul man. It's probably going to believe anybody be Paul, but they still went home and searched the scriptures. Go home and read because here's what it says.

Says. He says to the Pharisees, you tithe

of your herbs,

cumin, anise, Dil,

but you've neglected the weightier things of the law. He says that you should have done what's the that tithing,

but you've not done the heavier things of the law. Jesus doesn't say that it's wrong to tithe. In fact, he teaches it right there in Matthew 2323 In fact, it's not even that important. It's like, yeah. That's yeah, that's like, everybody knows to do that, but what we gotta really do is justice and righteousness and do the things that really, really matter. You go, Okay, well, maybe Jesus did, but that was before he died, went to the cross. So that doesn't really apply. Some people say that it's bad theology, but they'll say it. So then what I would say to you is, this is in the book of Hebrews, and that's not about coffee Hebrews. It's the book in that talks about Jesus being greater than everything. He's greater than Moses, He's greater than the Aaronic priesthood. He's greater than the law. He's He's greater than angels, like He's greater than everything. So in that book, if the writer brings up something, he's always going to tell you how Jesus is greater, or how that's been changed because of who Jesus is. Well, in chapter seven, you go over and read it for yourself. He talks about tithing.

It's really interesting that he doesn't say, Oh, and by the way, yeah, here's the better way.

Doesn't silence is deafening, so even the book of Hebrews doesn't give us a better way. That's why I when I look at scripture, I'm like, Yeah, this is, this is sort of a pattern that's all the way through scripture, that tithing is the first 10% and offerings are above that. So in other words, if I'm going to offer something like I'm going to put an offering in I need for it to be an offering. It needs to be above the 10% that I was supposed to give to God in the first place, bring to God, not give. And so this is, this is important, and I'm just going to say this. I'm trying to be snarky. Do we trust God with our finances, or do we just simply tip him occasionally? It's just a question. And if you go, I don't believe any of that. I don't like that, or whatever. Fine, then I'll just, I'll just refer you to CS Lewis. Everybody loves CS Lewis. Beer, Christianity, great guy. I'll just refer you to him. He says, If I don't, I don't believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. And I think that's true. And so I'm just just, I'm submitting this to you. You don't have to agree with me. I don't think you're going to go to heaven or hell because of this issue. It's not that at all, but I will tell you this. I believe that every area of your life, God wants you to put Him first, and when you put God first in every area of your life, I can tell you, as your pastor, you will never regret doing that.

Okay? Fourth,

understanding the reciprocal nature. This is why Paul says you're unlike any other church in giving and receiving. He says, because you understand sort of the principle. And Paul tells us the principle here. He says, It's not that I seek the gift, I seek the fruit, like when you give, there is a receiving and I'm not talking about like, if you walk out of here and go, Oh, Chip was saying, if we give that, we're gonna have a new car in our parking lot when we get home, or there's gonna be a Learjet that shows up at our house. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to abuse the principles, and I know preachers will abuse those principles. It's not that at all. I'm teaching on this, not because I'm trying to get something from you. I'm teaching on this because when you learn how awesome it is to give and to serve and to pour into others and to put God first in every area of your life, you will see the blessing of God in your life. That's why a good Bible teacher will teach on this because we're seeking the fruit that increases to your credit. That's why every week, when you come in, we say giving is not what God wants from you, it's what he wants for you, because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. So you might ask me, Well, Chip What should I do? How should I respond to this? I'll give you a couple things. Be a percentage giver to the local church. I'm not telling you that you need to go home and put a number together. I mean, I've told you what I think. I'm not gonna put that on you. You do what you need to do, but be a percentage giver. Say, Hey, you know what? I'm gonna go home pray about this. I'm gonna trust God with my finances. You would trust God. You believe that we should trust God with everything else. Everything else. Why would you not trust him for that? Not only that, but be willing to respond to need above and beyond. You're giving to the local church, but be willing to be people that will go above and beyond. And not only that, but be generous with your time and talent as well. Because this isn't just about finances. This is a lifestyle of generosity. Some of you, all we need you to serve around the church, not because we have a need, and we do have a need, and we really do need you to serve, but we need you to serve not because we have a need, although we have a need, we need you to serve so that you can get blessed in your life by being generous. Some of you all, we need your talent.

It. I mean, we don't need your talent. God's enough for us all. But if you would give your talent all of a sudden, you would be blessed. We're seeking it for you. We don't say everybody, Hey, let's go serve and let's go do all these things, because we just want you all to volunteer and do all that stuff. We do it because we know that when we do those things, it changes people's lives. And we here at Grace. We want to be in the life changing business. We're not in the money collection business. We're not in the volunteer business. We're not in all that stuff, although we have all those things. We're here because we want to see people's lives changed by the power of God. And when God changes your life, now you got a testimony that you can tell other people, and people come to know Jesus. It's important. And so here's the deal. There's a blessing to those who are generous. That's, that's, that's the overall principle here that I want you to see. But I told you earlier, and you know this, the most difficult bits of information for us to hear are the ones that intersect with our current lives in a way where there needs to be a change. And typically, when you talk about giving and generosity, it's an ouchy moment for people, because they're like, Oh, I'd have to change. I have to do whatever. How do I get there? I mean, I don't know, man, I'm in a bad shape already. I don't know how I get there. I get that I feel you. I feel you. So I'm gonna give you a story out of my own life that's self deprecating by every

way it could possibly be. And hopefully you'll laugh at me, and you'll laugh with me, and you'll see that sometimes you just know where you need to go and you got to get there. Some of you know where you need to go, and you don't know how many get there. Well, let me give you an example out of my life. Last week, I was blessed and fortunate, thankful that I get to do this. I said to myself, went home to Mindy and said, Yeah, I'm going to be 55 this year. I'm going to be a senior citizens discount at McDonald's. Like, you know, I'm, like, there's some things that I want to do. So I went with a buddy out to Colorado last week, and I went skiing. So I wasn't here Sunday. We flew out Sunday, and we came back Thursday, and he was really good skier, like, with way better, you know, he can turn around and ski backwards.

He can jump. I can ski backwards and jump when I fall off the ski lift.

But anyway, he was really good skier. We skied all day Monday, and I was tired. I mean, I was really, really tired because, I mean, just not used to skiing. And I mean, I'm busy with being a pastor, and, you know, I probably should take better care of myself. But the bottom line is, is that I was tired, really tired. We got up Tuesday morning early. We were gonna hit the subs, because they closed at 330 so we hit 30, so we hit at 830 and open we went to, like, two o'clock. I was dead. Like, I mean, when I say dead, I was dead. Like, my legs, I had to, like, I couldn't even stand. I mean, it was, it was sad. It was a sad my dad actually texted me in between the lesson. He goes chip. I really learned the lesson from this message, you need to be in better shape before you go skiing. And my dad's funny, but so I was really tired, and I said to Evan, I'm like, I need to get back to the hotel. The problem is, is that where we were skiing, which was in Beaver Creek,

there's all these trails, we were, like, two miles from where we needed to get

and nobody told me that you could go back down the lifts or anything. So he said, We're gonna here's where we're gonna go. And we got on the lift, and we started going. And I'm like, Evan, it seems like we're going up.

Maybe I wasn't clear. I need to come down. He said, I know where we're going. And we get off and ski. And ski, and I'm like, and I would just be stopping every minute. I'm like, I mean, I was dead. He goes, we got it. We're gonna get this one here, and we're gonna get home, and we're going up. I'm like,

we're taking this one. And he's like, Yeah. He goes. I'm like, Evan, that's the only one. That's a color I would never ski, ever, ever. He's like, Yeah, no, but it's going this way on the map. It's not going this way. It won't be as bad.

He's a liar,

not traveling with him anymore. We get off the lift, and literally, we come to where the trail is, and it's straight down.

And I'm like, Yeah, I've got kids at home. I've got a church. I can't pull a sunny Bono here. You know, I can't do this and but I don't I need to get to the hotel, but I don't know what to do. I'm literally don't know, because I can't ski this. I couldn't ski this on a good day. I couldn't ski this if I was fresh, as can be. I'm still sore from skiing. I'm like, walking out with you. Okay, Pastor chip, Oh, I'm great. Anyway, I look, I'm like, I took off my skis, and I said, Here, hold them. I said, I know you can ski with them, because you're good skier. He goes, what are you going to do? I said, I'm going to slide down on my rear end, down the entire thing.

He said, seriously. I said, Watch me. And I got my poles, and I put them behind me, thinking that would at least be a brace, and off I went.

You know, snow going everywhere. My boots hitting in there. Just, you know, and everything. There's a video of it. And my wife and kids have been on the floor, rolling that dad, you know, you know, here he goes, Dad, the butt slide down the thing, you know. I mean, it's just, it's in my house. It's terrible. And see, you know. And I stop, and I'm like.

Like, there's still, like, two miles to go. And I'm like, I'm dying. I'm like, and then I'm like, Okay, I think it's a little bit soft. I put my skis on, I zig zag. I can't do it, take them.

I mean, I'm wore out. In fact, I'm so wore out that my boots are digging in. So I take my ski pole and pull my legs up so I can slide snows going under my jacket,

going down, you know? And, I mean, I'm not even paying attention, I guess everybody on the so what's wrong with this guy? Anyway? So I get down to a place, and I'm there, and I look over and I see a guy that's like, works for whatever the ski company is, or he's got the right shirt on. And I'm like, help.

He looks at me. He goes, You look bad. I go, I am and I'm a good guy. Help me. Promise I'm a good guy. And he's like, he goes, what do you need? I go, I need a snowmobile.

That's what I need. They called one up and and got a snowmobile for me. And I want you to know, here's pastor chip on the snowmobile.

Because, and if my face looks really red, it's because I'm wore out. I'm tired, and they took me down. And then, you know, when they drop you off, it's the walk of shame in front of everything. I didn't care. I was like, I am back at the hotel. Man, I don't care. And why do I tell you that story? I tell you that story because you may be like me in some places in your life. You don't know how you're going to get to where you need to get, but you know you gotta get here, which means you may have to slide, you may have to fall, you may have to have you may have to ask for help, but if you know that's where you need to go, then you gotta do whatever you gotta do to get to where you need to be. Because here's what I want you to hear. Hear me. You will never, ever, ever go all in for Jesus with any part of your life that you will look back over a period of time and regret

ever. 

Last modified: Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 11:41 AM