Whenever we put together a sermon series on giving
and stewardship and looking at time, talents,
and treasures, it's always an interesting conversation
that goes on kind of in my heart, in my head
of, yeah, it's a lot easier, it's not easy necessarily
to stand up here and just say, you know, be mindful
to tithe, give your 10%, blah, blah, blah, blah,
all the things. But God always takes that fear,
that trepidation that I have to kind of do it
for the month and really changes a lot of the
conversation. And it's been interesting, the
conversations that I've had with all of you that
have come and talked to me or emailed or called
or texted some questions on looking at some of
these passages in a different way. I love breaking
down a good Jesus narrative about what happens
with the rich young ruler and all the things.
But we find ourselves in a very, I'd probably
say the most... popular set of verses in all
of scripture. I hate to say that, but we see
it everywhere, even places it doesn't belong,
right? You'll see it at wrestling shows, or you'll
see it on ESPN in the college game day. I saw
it yesterday, where someone will just put something
316, right? Where it's really John 316, for God
so loved the world that he, one and only son,
that whoever It's always funny that gave his
one and only son, that whoever believes in eternal
life, because we kind of forget some of the words.
So let's dive in to John 3, 16, 16 through 21.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. For God did
not send his son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the
only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The
light has come into the world, and people love
the darkness rather than the light, because their
works were evil. For everyone who does wicked
things hates the light and does not come to the
light, lest the works should be exposed. But
whoever does what is true comes to the light
so that it may be clearly seen that his work
has been carried out in God. So there's more
to it than just John 3, 16, and 17 for the half
of you that could actually make it through 17.
But that's the gospel, right? That God so loved
the world that he gave the greatest gift ever.
So we've been talking about our treasures, what
we treasure, why we treasure, what we center
on in our life for several weeks. We talk about
where we've stored our treasures, the importance
of who we serve with them and how to live generously
with others. All of that leads to this sermon,
this final sermon with really probably the best
teaching I could give today. is the recognition
that God is the most generous giver ever. Now,
that's easy to say. He's creator. But he shows
it in this verse. He shows it in John 3, 16.
Like I said, perhaps the most famous verse in
all the Bible. But sometimes its familiarity
dulls its power. We can say it, but do we actually,
like, are we listening to the words that we say?
For God so loved. The world. That when you love
something, you care for it, you protect it, you
provide for it. That he gave his only son. Doubles
down, whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life. This is the ultimate picture
of kingdom economics. This is the ultimate picture
of what we've been talking about, the culmination
of every aspect of our treasures, of how, where,
when, who we store it for. Because God didn't
give out of his scarcity, like we talked about
last two weeks ago. He gave it out of his abundance.
For God so loved the world. But if we read other
parts of Scripture, God is love. So love incarnate
gave himself for us. Out of the abundance of
love. He didn't give the leftovers. He gave his
one and only son. He didn't give it reluctantly.
But he gave it freely, gladly, for sinners like
me. And sinners like you. He gave it for the
church. That's a powerful place to be. That's
a powerful place to sit. Especially because we've
been talking about the things that we get in
life. What we store up. Time, talents, but mainly
treasures. I don't know about you, but family
is the greatest treasure in my life. My relationship
with my wife, my three kids, our dogs, maybe.
I don't know. But that family is the most important
thing. It's my family for me, my family, and
then my church family. That we can use the word
family, a prayer we pray all the time with people.
We thank God for bringing friends who are more
like family into our lives. I understand that
the idea of family can bring negatives. Can bring
hardship, hurt, burnt relationships, divorce.
All of those negative things, God reminds us
in this verse that we are a part of his family.
Out of the abundance of love that he has for
you and for me, the same ones that spit on his
name throughout this past week when we've sinned,
gives his one and only son for us. We're going
to dive a little bit into how this is written
because the Greek is really phenomenal and it
really changed for me how I read this verse.
It starts off with the word hoitos. And the word
hoitos doesn't just mean that he loves so much,
but in this way God shows. And I don't know about
you, but that's an important thing in my life.
The way that Carrie shows me she loves me. at
times is way more impactful to my life than saying
it or reading it or something. And if you think
about it, you're probably the same way. The way
people show you that they love you makes far
more impact in your life than them just saying
it. Because we can use the word love all the
time. I love you. You mean so much to me. I love
Cherry Coke. I hope your love for Cherry Coke
and your love for your spouse are not the same
kind of love. Right? I really hope it's not.
If it is, let's have a conversation. But talk,
as we learned two sermon series ago, and really
what Jesus is saying in this past month, is that
talk is cheap. Actions really show. What people
mean. How they live their life. How people see
the way you live your life. Can tell the world
who you follow, what you serve, what you love,
what you care about, what you don't care about.
Let's call a spade a spade the church. So often
the church is known for what they're against,
not what they're for. Ooh, sign me up. But as
a church who loves the Lord, we need to love
people then. No ifs, ands, or buts. Why? Because
in this way, God so loved the world. What he's
saying is this is how much God loved us. He gave
his son. I love all of you. I wouldn't do that
for you. And I guarantee you wouldn't do that
for me. That's a hard thing to ask. And it's
not the first time we see it with Jesus. Right?
We see it all the way early on in the scriptures.
Between who? God and who does he call to have
someone give up their son? Abraham with his son.
Go up and sacrifice him. And Abraham, I want
to believe Abraham was going to do it. In my
nerdy mind of the things I'm going to ask, the
people I'm going to find when I get up to heaven
and ask questions, that's one I want to ask.
Dude, were you really, if you can say dude in
heaven, I don't know. But, bro, do you think
that you could actually do that? Right? And I
don't know what Abraham's going to say. There's
probably a long line to talk to Abraham. He was
a big deal in the Old Testament, right? But I'll
wait my turn. But that was another way to show
not only love for God, but love for the plan
God has. That sometimes God calls us to do crazy
things. And it's whether we love and trust him
enough to actually do it. This is how God loved
us. The generosity of God is not measured. In
emotion, it is measured in action. If you are
a kind of person that keeps that love tank that
you have for other people purely in emotions,
I'm going to ask that you stop and put your emotions
to actions, and that's a lot harder. To say that
you love someone and to show them that you love
them, if we're being honest, are two radically
different things. How do we know that a relationship
has gone cold? When it's just this and not this.
When it's just talk. You know it's gone real
cold when there isn't even talk. Then what are
you really attaching to? Is there even signs
of life? The generosity of God is not measured
in emotion but in action. So, God so loved the
Lord, he gave his only son. Monogenesis, this
word doesn't mean created, but unique, one of
a kind, beloved. Jesus is the Father's most precious
treasure. To give him is to give what costs the
most. Let me say that again. To give Jesus is
to give what costs the most for God. And God
had everything at his disposal. He could have
gave anything for this. But the reason why he
sent his son to the cross, out of love for you
and for me. Like I said, what does that even
look like in your life? In my life? Jim, if you
really loved your church, you would sacrifice
one of your sons to show that love. We engage
that. It doesn't make any sense. And I love you
all, but I wouldn't have done it. But that's
not the call we have. The call God had for us
is to believe when he says, I am sending you
my son. And you've got to remember how this conversation,
where this is coming from. Who's saying this?
Who's saying this in John 3 .16? I'm not going
to put lunch on this. It's too easy. Maybe it's
not. Who is saying this? Jesus. Jesus is saying
this to who? This is for lunch. Oh, I was way
too easy. Yeah, Jeremiah, I got you. Jesus is
saying this about himself. He is telling the
wise Nicodemus, the Pharisee, for God so loved
the world, he gave me. That whoever believes
in me will never perish but have eternal life.
That word give, gave, means something. Augustine
wrote this, God had only one son without sin,
but he had none without suffering. God gave his
treasure so that we could become his treasure.
I don't know about you, but that is kingdom economics.
That is putting the value in the most important
thing, not in the stuff. Because we put our love,
we put our desire in the things that perish.
Yet here we see a contrast. The perishing things
to a perishing life versus the eternal life.
Eternal life is not just length of days. Eternal
life, when we get to heaven, as we read in the
scriptures, is a fulfillment of life in God.
Your perfected life. I could probably sit down
with each and every one of you and go, what do
you think your perfected life looks like? Just
looks. Let's just go to skin deep. Okay? And
I'm sure there will be a laundry list of things.
And I'm just talking to myself. Right? Like,
I'm sure there's abs. Right? And maybe in my
perfected life you'd be able to see them. Who
knows? Why did you laugh? That was not funny.
Right? But we have this understanding. What do
you think your perfected body is going to look
like? I'm not going to really ask because that's
weird. But it is something. That changes our
mindset. That when we get up into glory, what
Paul says, now we see lit dimly in a mirror,
soon we will see face to face the greatest treasures
of our life. The fullness of life with God. By
nature, because we sin, we are under the condemnation,
right? Without Christ, we are not spiritually
neutral. We are already perishing. That's why
the gospel is so important. That's why John 3
.16 is such a powerful verse. Because I guarantee
if I asked you to come up with three people in
your life that don't know Jesus as Lord, it'd
take you five seconds to come up with it. Guess
what? They're perishing. They are condemned already.
That's why it's so important to bring the gospel
truth to the people in your life. To the people
you come and encounter in your life day in and
day out. But this is the gospel. The rich fool
hoarded and lost his soul, we learned three weeks
ago. The rich young ruler clung to his wealth
and walked away sorrowful two weeks ago. But
God gave his son. And whoever believes has eternal
life. This is not only kingdom economics. This
is the generosity of the kingdom of God. Where
we could not give enough, God gave everything.
Our confessions help us understand. In Highbrook
Catechism question and answer 60, God grants
and credits me the perfect satisfaction, perfect
righteousness, and perfect holiness of Christ,
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner. Cheryl,
leave that one up there. I'm going to ask you
to take seven seconds. And think about your life
without sin. Just take seven seconds. What does
your life look like without sin? Anyone want
to give that a thought? Can't do it, can you?
It's virtually impossible to think about your
life without sin. Because it's part of our DNA
right now. Notice what I just said. That sin
is a part of our DNA right now. That depravity,
that friction, that rub that goes on every day,
every minute. While we've been here, we've struggled
with it in some way, shape, or form. And we're
in the house of God. Can't we just go through
some kind of censor, de -sin for an hour or an
hour and ten, depending on how long I preach,
and then we can just pick it back up in the parking
lot? That's not how it works. Yet, what we read
is that God grants and credits me perfect satisfaction,
perfect righteousness, and perfect holiness of
Christ, as if I have never sinned nor been a
sinner. What a wonderful gift we all will get
when we get there. But the ones that try to live
this now, in this day and age, Pharisees. Mad
judgmental. No one wants to be around these people
and gives the church a bad name. Because we have
to be honest with our sin. Not complacent, but
honest with our sin. And that's why Jesus was
given. I don't know about you, but that's generosity
you can't buy. That's a generosity we can only
receive. And I know, I look out and see a bunch
of you. It's hard for you to receive someone
else's generosity. But this isn't optional in
our relationship with God. It's the difference
between darkness and light. This has everything
to do with submitting our treasures, our stored
up treasures, for God's generosity. Jesus explains
why some will reject him. People loved the darkness
rather than the light because their works were
evil. This isn't about intellect today, friends.
It's about affection. Who do you hold in affection
in your life? The issue is not that people can't
understand. It's they won't let go what they
treasure most. I don't know about you, but that's
convicting. Just like the rich young ruler and
the rich fool, both, Many of us love the weight
of our wealth more than the freedom of the gospel.
Let me say that again. Just like the rich fool
and the rich ruler, many of us love the weight
of our wealth more than the freedom of the gospel.
Let's put that to the test. Tomorrow, sell everything.
This is just hypothetical. Sell everything. Everything,
just give it away. Is your relationship with
God worse or better for it? Now, 99 % of us,
100 % of us, we'll never know because we're not
going to do that. But to receive the generosity
of God, which is ultimately everlasting life,
what he is doubling down in this past month is
that we can't hold on to both the gospel truth
and all of our stuff. mix it together and take
it with us. We can't do it. But Jesus, as the
light of the world, exposes our idols, not to
shame us, but to break the chains and set us
free to walk in the light as to live in this
life. What he is saying is when you define yourself
by your stuff, you are not defining yourself
by God. But pastor, I give stuff away. Great.
I tithe. Awesome. Fantastic. I donate to missionaries.
Fantastic. But are you still defining yourself
by what you have? Are you defining yourself by
the light of God? To walk in the light is to
live a life that is done in God. Works that flow
out of His grace and bring glory to Him. That's
where we've been the last four weeks. What are
you attaching to? And hear me, it is not a bad
thing to have wealth. It is not a bad thing to
have stuff. It's not a bad thing to get a new
car every month, or maybe not every month, but
you know what I mean. Those aren't inherently
bad things, but when they define who you are,
and what's a good test for that? Take them out
of the equation, and you feel differently about
yourself. then maybe you're letting them define
who you are too closely, too impactfully. Because
what we're called to do, as Jesus is telling
Nicodemus, we're to live in God's generosity
every day. So what does that mean? Some practical
things as I land the plane, as we close out this
series and look to a new one. First, receive
before. You give. True generosity doesn't start
with our wallets. It starts with us receiving
the gift of Christ by faith. For a lot of you,
you've done that. You're in the faith. You believe.
You have professed. Fantastic. Second is to see
Christ as the true treasure. If God gave his
son for you, what more do you need to feel secure?
That one hurts. I get it. And I'm looking at
myself first. Well, one thing we can do is we
can hold money loosely. And this doesn't mean
just invest poorly or anything like that. This
means be good stewards of it. Possessions are
temporary. God's kingdom is eternal. Ask yourself,
what can I give away today to show Christ is
my treasure? What can I give away today to show
that Christ is my treasure? Because then number
four, we live in the light. Generosity isn't
just about money, but about transparency, living
open -hearted before God and others. And then
finally, reflect God's generosity. The Belgian
Confession, Article 24, reminds us, our good
works flow from faith. Hear that. It's not before.
Good works don't get us faith. Good works flow
from faith. When we give, serve, and love, we
are mirroring the God who gave us his son. The
one who your life is defined by. That you are
defined first and foremost by Jesus Christ. Look
how that plays out in our life. I've used this
analogy before. But if you have children, part
of the mark on your children is you as parents.
And that could be said many different ways. People
would be like, man, here come the Holland Donor
boys. All right. Or they could say, here come
the Holland Donor boys. Think more so about how
God says that to you when you show up to work.
Oh, there goes one of mine. Or, oh, there goes
one of mine. See how it's different? Or when
Munster Church gets involved in something. God
looks down. There goes Munster Church. Or, oh
no, there goes Munster Church. You see how it's
different? Reflect God's generosity. When we
give, when we serve, when we love, we are mirroring
the God who gave us his son. And here's the final
point. The story of the rich fool. warned us
about the dangers of what? Hoarding our stuff.
The rich young ruler showed us the weight of
wealth and the tragedy of walking away from Jesus,
of choosing your stuff over the Savior. But here,
today, John 3, 16 through 21, Jesus reminds us
the heart of the gospel, that God is the ultimate
giver. God's economy is not built on scarcity.
It's built on abundance. He's the creator of
all. He doesn't say, do enough and maybe I'll
love you. He says, I have loved you this way.
I gave you my son. So friends, when you have
received that gift, the gift of Christ, you are
already rich beyond measure. That means you can
go. That means you can let go of the world's
barns. We've talked about that. Let go of the
barns that you think you need stored up, stored
up, stored up. You can live in an open -handed
life. You can invest your time and your talents
and your treasures to the work of God's kingdom.
Not to earn his love, but because you already
have it. Let me say that again. We don't give
to earn. We give because it's already been given
to us. And I, when the Holy Spirit met me here
Thursday morning, and here's where this sets
up the series that we're going to start next
week. Over the last couple weeks, right, we've
talked about storing our treasures in heaven,
serving God, not mammon or not man stuff, not
man's wealth, the world's wealth, holding wealth
loosely and being rich toward God. But the question
now is, okay, we've done it. We want to live
this life. We've made the commitment. Now what?
What does a life look like when God generously
is flowing through his people? How does the church
live when it is convinced it belongs to Christ,
body and soul? As Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's
Day 1 says, well, friends, that's exactly where
we're headed, into the book of Acts. Our next
series, Earth, Wind, and Fire, the start of the
church of Christ. will show us a couple things.
It will show us how early church lived out kingdom
economics. They were filled with the Spirit.
They were sharing life, breaking bread, and boldly
carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Because being rich towards God is not just about
letting go of possessions. It's about taking
hold of Christ and letting His Spirit shape your
generous, gospel -centered communities. So let
us leave here today with hearts filled, hands
open, and lives that bear witness to the generosity
of God in Christ. Let's pray.