WEBVTT 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.280 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.880 Sermons as we kick off a brand new teaching series 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:13.240 called A Generous Life. We have lots of different 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.739 ideas about what generosity means with our money, 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:20.320 with our time, with our resources. But what does 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.640 Jesus have to teach us about generosity? And 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:27.440 how can we actually find joy in giving? That's 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:29.280 what we're going to unpack in today's sermon. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.920 Our readings today are from the Gospel of Matthew, 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:42.640 chapter 6, verses 19 to 24. Do not store up for 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.679 yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.439 vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:51.200 steal. But store up for yourselves treasures 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.979 in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.759 and where thieves do not break in and steal. 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.479 For where your treasure is, there your heart 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.969 will also be. The eye is the lamp of the body. 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:07.450 If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:10.590 be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:14.709 your whole body will be full of darkness. If 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:17.909 then the light within you is darkness, how great 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:21.329 is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. 00:01:22.090 --> 00:01:24.769 Either you will hate the one and love the other, 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:27.689 or you will be devoted to the one and despise 00:01:27.689 --> 00:01:30.969 the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:34.200 This is the word of the Lord. You know, Jesus 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:36.420 is quite famous for saying a lot of things that 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:40.599 seem to go against common sense. So, for example, 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.099 Jesus says things like, you know, whoever wants 00:01:43.099 --> 00:01:46.620 to be great must be a servant, right? That doesn't 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:48.920 seem to make any sense. You know, doesn't greatness 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:52.159 come from climbing upwards, not from going down? 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:55.700 Or Jesus says, you know, power is made perfect 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:58.599 in weakness, and that doesn't make any sense. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:00.400 So aren't you supposed to hide your weaknesses 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.739 and build on your strengths? Or Jesus says, whoever 00:02:03.739 --> 00:02:06.519 loses their life for my sake will find it. That 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:08.280 doesn't make any sense. If you lose your life, 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:10.319 I mean, what else have you got? Isn't that all 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.659 you've got is your life? Or Jesus says, you're 00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:15.759 to love your enemies and to pray for those who 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.800 persecute you. That doesn't make any sense. Aren't 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:20.979 we supposed to crush and cancel our enemies, 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.099 not bless them? And Jesus says, those who humble 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:28.360 themselves will be exalted. Well, that doesn't 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:31.479 seem right either. Aren't the humble forgotten? 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:34.400 And those who exalt themselves, they're the ones 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.400 that we remember. But perhaps the most counterintuitive 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.360 of all these crazy sayings that Jesus mentions 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.479 is this one. He says, it is more blessed to give 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:48.819 than to receive. Now, the word blessed there 00:02:48.819 --> 00:02:52.699 is the Greek word makarios. And that word means 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:55.919 blessed, but it also means happy. It also means 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.759 fortunate. And it even means joyful. Makarios 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:03.219 actually was this Greek word that spoke about 00:03:03.219 --> 00:03:07.400 this exalted state, the highest state of well 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:11.039 -being, the state of the gods even. And so really 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.620 you could translate this one that Jesus mentioned 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:16.840 into this. You could say there is more joy. joy 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:21.060 in giving than in getting. There's more happiness 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.439 in giving than in getting. There's more makarios, 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:28.740 more of this joyful life in giving than in getting. 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:34.210 Now that doesn't make A lot of sense, right? 00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:36.669 Of all Jesus's backwards statements, surely this 00:03:36.669 --> 00:03:39.889 one is the most backwards and the most hard to 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:42.569 believe. Because doesn't joy actually come from 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:45.169 getting more? Not giving more. I mean, isn't 00:03:45.169 --> 00:03:48.150 happiness found in upgrading? You know, upgrading 00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:49.969 your wardrobe, upgrading your phone, upgrading 00:03:49.969 --> 00:03:52.009 your car, upgrading your vacations, upgrading 00:03:52.009 --> 00:03:55.930 your home, right? Whether it's ads or influencers 00:03:55.930 --> 00:03:58.770 or even your financial planner, they will tell 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:00.930 you that more money is going to guarantee you 00:04:00.930 --> 00:04:04.699 more happiness. and more joy in your life. No, 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:07.599 no, no. There is more happiness in getting and 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.180 holding on to stuff than giving. It is not the 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:15.780 other way around, Jesus. I would say that when 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:18.899 I feel this way, it's not just because of commercials 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:20.839 and ads and stuff like that. I think it's actually 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:24.439 deep in my own DNA and maybe it's in yours as 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:29.379 well. I grew up, I think, feeling that The more 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:32.779 you have, the happier that you will be. And maybe 00:04:32.779 --> 00:04:35.459 that's because, you know, I grew up as a son 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.209 of immigrant. Parents, farmers who came over 00:04:39.209 --> 00:04:42.089 and they didn't have very much at all. They had 00:04:42.089 --> 00:04:44.889 next to nothing. And for them, there was great 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:48.629 happiness and great fulfillment in growing their 00:04:48.629 --> 00:04:53.050 wealth and developing their success. And I benefited 00:04:53.050 --> 00:04:55.509 from all that. But I think the subliminal message 00:04:55.509 --> 00:04:58.769 that got in there and has shaped my own default 00:04:58.769 --> 00:05:02.889 setting and default thinking is that joy. And 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.209 satisfaction and happiness comes from getting. 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:09.470 It comes from earning. It comes from accumulating, 00:05:09.509 --> 00:05:14.649 not from giving it away. You know, Richard Foster, 00:05:14.810 --> 00:05:17.310 in his book, The Joy of Simplicity, he says, 00:05:17.470 --> 00:05:21.889 the unreasoned boast abounds that the good life 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:27.680 is found in accumulation. and that more is better. 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:30.180 And that's that we don't even, he says down here, 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:32.899 he says, we don't even question it. We accept 00:05:32.899 --> 00:05:36.319 this notion without question. And as a result, 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:39.639 contemporary society has become psychotic, so 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.939 consumed with affluence and accumulation. Now, 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:47.839 when we hear Jesus say there's more joy in giving 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.290 than there is in receiving, I, I'm speaking for 00:05:52.290 --> 00:05:54.209 myself, but maybe you too, I kind of roll my 00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:57.870 eyes and I say, okay, Jesus, yes, okay. I know 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:00.790 that giving is a good thing to do. And I know 00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:04.449 that giving is maybe the moral thing to do. And, 00:06:04.529 --> 00:06:07.050 and giving might even be the quote unquote right 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:09.509 thing to do. But come on, Jesus, do not try to 00:06:09.509 --> 00:06:13.269 explain to me that it is a joyful thing to do, 00:06:13.310 --> 00:06:17.050 that it is actually leads me on a pathway toward 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:22.490 a happy life. Well, surprise, surprise, you know, 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:26.670 Jesus was actually right. He's been right all 00:06:26.670 --> 00:06:29.089 along because over the last few decades, a whole 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:33.750 lot of research has been piling up showing that 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:37.509 what Jesus said 2 ,000 years ago is right on 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:40.069 the money. No pun intended, right? There really 00:06:40.069 --> 00:06:45.759 is more joy. In giving than getting. Study after 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:49.600 study show that generous people, they actually 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.920 are happier. They have lower levels of depression 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:54.800 and anxiety. They have stronger relationships. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:59.500 They have longer life expectancies. They laugh 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:02.519 more. And neuroscientists have found that when 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.040 you give, it lights up the same parts of your 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:08.579 brain that would light up like when you eat a 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:12.290 great meal or that when you fall in love. And 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:15.870 the studies will show this isn't just one demographic 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:20.089 or one kind of gender. It cuts across all personalities, 00:07:20.449 --> 00:07:23.529 all ethnicities, all income levels. There's one 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:26.829 major study that I was looking at this week that 00:07:26.829 --> 00:07:33.790 says that this phenomenon is a universal feature. 00:07:34.379 --> 00:07:37.259 of all human experience. So there was a study 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:39.759 called the Science of Generosity Initiative. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.300 It was done at University of Notre Dame and Hilary 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.019 Davidson and Christian Smith. They wrote a book 00:07:44.019 --> 00:07:47.339 called The Paradox of Generosity, right? And 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:50.379 this book is based on thousands of interviews 00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:54.439 and all sorts of like, it was a five -year study, 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:56.579 thousands of participants. But look what they 00:07:56.579 --> 00:08:00.620 say. They say, people rightly say that money 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:04.870 can't buy happiness, but Money and happiness 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:08.610 are still related in a curious way. Happiness 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:12.029 can result not from spending more money on ourselves, 00:08:12.310 --> 00:08:16.269 but by giving money away to others. This isn't 00:08:16.269 --> 00:08:20.350 just a nice idea. It's a social scientific fact. 00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:25.089 And they go on to say, actually, that first... 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:28.459 the more generous people are, obviously, they're 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:31.040 happier, they're healthier, they have more purpose, 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:32.919 they enjoy life more. But then they secondly 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:37.360 say, despite all that evidence, people, generally 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.200 speaking, fail to lead generous lives. So if 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.899 you look at the science, if you look at the culture, 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:49.340 more money equaling more happiness is just not 00:08:49.340 --> 00:08:53.659 true. Actually, Jesus was right. Generosity. 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:57.909 is the pathway to a joyful life. And so what 00:08:57.909 --> 00:08:59.509 we're going to be doing over the next few weeks 00:08:59.509 --> 00:09:01.990 is we're going to be looking at this topic of 00:09:01.990 --> 00:09:04.669 generosity. Why? Because your happiness and your 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:09.070 joy depends on it. And generosity is so, so, 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:12.429 so important. It should come as no surprise to 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:16.830 us that Jesus spends upwards of 25 % of his teaching 00:09:16.830 --> 00:09:22.139 time talking about money. at some level that 00:09:22.139 --> 00:09:25.240 would be the equivalent of me preaching a sermon 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.759 about money every four weeks and if i did that 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.279 i dare say there'd be a lot less people in church 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:34.720 and mostly that would be because of a couple 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.960 of objections all right here is the first objection 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:43.120 money is a very sensitive subject And it's even 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.519 more sensitive when it comes into church. You 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.899 know, the last time I preached about money here 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:51.340 at Trinity was like exactly a year ago. Back 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:54.000 in November, we kicked off our financial campaign, 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:57.460 our Gather and Grow campaign. On that Sunday, 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.279 we had a guest, a visitor with us that day. And 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:02.120 granted, that probably wouldn't have been the 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.899 best Sunday for a newcomer to visit Trinity. 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:10.440 But they left us one of the worst Google reviews. 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:14.509 ever. You can read it. You can go and read it 00:10:14.509 --> 00:10:16.009 right now. I don't want you to go read it right 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:17.970 now, but you should read it because it is still 00:10:17.970 --> 00:10:21.190 there. It was exactly a year ago. I'm going to 00:10:21.190 --> 00:10:24.690 read to you what this gentleman said about Trinity. 00:10:24.850 --> 00:10:27.470 Okay, here's what he said. He said, one -third 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:30.070 of the service was dedicated to a full -on commercial 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.629 about how the church needs money. We were literally 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:37.809 accosted by representative members, one of which 00:10:37.809 --> 00:10:42.549 was the minister's wife. They asked prying questions. 00:10:42.929 --> 00:10:45.950 I got the distinct impression we were being sized 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:48.269 up for how much we could potentially bring into 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:51.009 the church from a monetary standpoint. I could 00:10:51.009 --> 00:10:53.850 drone on and on and on. Oh, please don't. About 00:10:53.850 --> 00:10:59.950 how this place felt gross. Your doors are meant 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:03.429 to be open to anyone. He should have come last 00:11:03.429 --> 00:11:05.990 week. I talked about open doors. And then he 00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:10.179 ends. He said, do better. do better. He said, 00:11:10.220 --> 00:11:12.679 I gave this guy a call afterwards, and I talked 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:14.519 to him for half an hour, but I could not convince 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:18.440 him that we were anything but a money -grubbing 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.779 church, and he would not remove his comments 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:24.039 either, right? Even his comments about Sally. 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:27.200 I mean, come on, Sally, of all the people to 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:31.000 get a one -star review, Sally. I mean, Sally, 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:35.840 do better. Do better. So my point is, though, 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:39.139 talking about money touches a nerve. And as we're 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:42.320 going to hear today, money is in some ways a 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:46.299 god of our age. And there's part of us that says, 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:48.980 do not go there. Do not talk about that. Do not 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:53.120 touch that. Stay away. So that's one big objection. 00:11:53.259 --> 00:11:57.960 Another big objection is that generosity is more 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:01.139 than giving your money, isn't it? Yes, yes. Well, 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.470 that's true. Generosity includes giving your 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:06.970 time and giving your relationship and giving 00:12:06.970 --> 00:12:09.190 your expertise and giving your attention and 00:12:09.190 --> 00:12:11.049 giving your words and your influence and all 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:14.409 that stuff. Yes, it's all true. But when Jesus 00:12:14.409 --> 00:12:17.190 speaks about generosity, nine times out of ten, 00:12:17.409 --> 00:12:21.529 he's actually speaking about money. Now, as John 00:12:21.529 --> 00:12:24.710 Mark Comer says, he says, generosity is true 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:27.289 about more than giving your money, but it is 00:12:27.289 --> 00:12:30.110 not about less than giving your money. And it 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:33.490 is real easy to skip over this whole money topic. 00:12:33.590 --> 00:12:36.269 And instead, let's focus on giving time. Let's 00:12:36.269 --> 00:12:39.690 focus on giving our words. But Jesus himself 00:12:39.690 --> 00:12:44.409 zeroed in on money when he spoke about generosity. 00:12:45.370 --> 00:12:47.289 And so what I'll want to do in the time that 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:48.490 I have left this morning is I'm going to look 00:12:48.490 --> 00:12:50.909 at some of that great teaching about generosity 00:12:50.909 --> 00:12:53.830 that came from Jesus. If you have a Bible, you 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:55.450 can take it out or turn it on. We're going to 00:12:55.450 --> 00:12:58.490 look at Matthew 6, 19 to 24. You've got some 00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:00.870 sermon notes there to follow along. I just want 00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:02.730 to show you kind of five things in this that 00:13:02.730 --> 00:13:06.509 Jesus teaches us about giving. Here's the first 00:13:06.509 --> 00:13:10.129 thing he teaches us. Jesus mentions that in the 00:13:10.129 --> 00:13:13.710 human heart, there is this built -in desire to 00:13:13.710 --> 00:13:16.879 accumulate stuff. and stockpile stuff. That's 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.779 just who we are. When I was a boy, it all started 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:22.480 when I started collecting comic books, Punisher, 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:26.039 War Journal, Wolverine. And then I started collecting 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:30.019 basketball cards, NBA hoops and Skybox cards. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.759 Anyway, those things are still in my garage to 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:35.740 this day. I was eight, 10 years old when I started 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:37.279 collecting them. I don't know why I carry them 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.039 around. In fact, they fell over in our garage 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:41.320 about a year ago and a whole bunch of them rotted 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.789 and disintegrated on the garage floor. to pile 00:13:45.789 --> 00:13:49.090 up stuff. And it might start with toys and it 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:51.889 might start with trading cards. But as adults, 00:13:52.009 --> 00:13:56.029 we still collect pay raises and we collect investment 00:13:56.029 --> 00:13:58.830 returns and we collect home equity and RSPs. 00:13:58.909 --> 00:14:02.610 It's just a different version of the same impulse 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:06.509 that we've had since we were born. And Jesus... 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.120 Actually says that's normal and there's nothing 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.899 particularly wrong with wanting to store up treasure. 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:14.639 The problem, Jesus says, secondly, is though 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:18.679 we store it up in the wrong place. Jesus calls 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:23.370 us. To store our treasure in heaven, not on earth. 00:14:23.490 --> 00:14:25.889 Now, heaven here does not mean this place that 00:14:25.889 --> 00:14:28.250 you go when you die, does not mean this faraway 00:14:28.250 --> 00:14:31.070 place in the clouds. In the first century Jewish 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:34.629 world, heaven was the place where God reigned. 00:14:34.750 --> 00:14:38.149 It was where God's stuff was happening. It was 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:42.399 God's realm. So Jesus is saying the place to 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:46.480 invest your resources and your money is not in 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.559 what is temporary, not in what is fragile and 00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:51.360 is just going to disappear one day, but invest 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:54.340 in something that is eternal. Invest in stuff 00:14:54.340 --> 00:14:58.360 that is lasting. Invest in God's kingdom and 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.940 what God is doing right now on earth. That will 00:15:01.940 --> 00:15:04.620 last forever. Other stuff will not last forever. 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:08.549 And thirdly, Jesus points out a very interesting 00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:11.070 fact about the human heart in this teaching. 00:15:11.230 --> 00:15:14.509 And that is this, that we usually think our money 00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:17.350 follows our hearts. Our money follows our desires. 00:15:17.570 --> 00:15:20.149 In other words, we spend our money on the things 00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:22.309 that we love and the things that we really, really 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:26.309 value. But Jesus says the opposite is also true. 00:15:27.129 --> 00:15:30.269 That wherever our money goes, our hearts will 00:15:30.269 --> 00:15:34.509 eventually follow that as well. So the more money 00:15:34.509 --> 00:15:37.450 we have and the more stuff that we accumulate, 00:15:37.669 --> 00:15:40.350 then the more we fall in love with that stuff. 00:15:40.570 --> 00:15:43.029 And the more we get greedy for more of that stuff. 00:15:43.149 --> 00:15:45.889 And the more we fear of losing that stuff. And 00:15:45.889 --> 00:15:48.629 then pretty soon our hearts and our minds and 00:15:48.629 --> 00:15:52.429 our souls are so fixated on what we have. And 00:15:52.429 --> 00:15:55.230 we spend so much of our lives worrying about 00:15:55.230 --> 00:15:57.440 the fact that we'll lose it. that we would have 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:01.259 more of it. It's our hearts go to our money. 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:03.940 It's not just that our money goes to our heart's 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:06.740 desires. It works the other way around, Jesus 00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:10.200 says. Fourth interesting part of this teaching 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:12.340 Jesus shares with us is this interesting idea 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:18.779 about our eyes. He says that the eye is the lamp 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:22.470 of the body. And if... What's he say? If your 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:24.690 eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full 00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:26.730 of light. Now, at first, this sounds like a very 00:16:26.730 --> 00:16:29.629 cryptic and strange teaching. What is this eye 00:16:29.629 --> 00:16:32.129 that Jesus is talking about? Is this not a spooky 00:16:32.129 --> 00:16:35.789 Halloween thing? An eye? No. In fact, if you 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:38.009 were to read your Bible, many Bibles will have 00:16:38.009 --> 00:16:41.110 a little footnote attached to this verse. And 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:44.830 the footnote will say that the Greek word for... 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:50.980 So the Greek word for healthy here is actually 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:54.720 can imply generosity. And the Greek word for 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:59.860 unhealthy implies stingy. So what this means 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:03.559 is according to this first century idiom. There 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.599 are two ways that your eyes can look at the world. 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:10.319 One is with generous eyes, healthy eyes. The 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:15.180 other is with stingy eyes or unhealthy eyes. 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:19.799 Today, what we normally call that is that you 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:23.849 see the world either from an abundance. mindset 00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:27.309 or you see the world from a scarcity mindset. 00:17:27.529 --> 00:17:30.930 If you have an abundance mindset, you've got 00:17:30.930 --> 00:17:33.069 a healthy eye. Congratulations. You look at the 00:17:33.069 --> 00:17:36.009 world and you see everything that God has given 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:38.269 you and it's more than enough. You receive your 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:40.230 whole life as a gift. You've got a healthy eye. 00:17:40.549 --> 00:17:43.690 But if you look at the world and you just see 00:17:43.690 --> 00:17:46.960 lack, and there's not enough, and all you see 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.619 is scarcity, then you have an unhealthy eye. 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.759 And you actually really don't believe that God 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.599 is going to provide for you. All you see is what 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:59.519 you do not have. And you can have two people 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.359 who have the same job, and they live on the same 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.299 street, and they make the same income, and they 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:05.599 have the same bills, and they have the same dreams. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.660 One can have a healthy eye and one can have an 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:13.039 unhealthy eye. One can see with the lens of abundance 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.500 and the other just sees what they don't have. 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:17.859 It's a good question to ask ourselves is how 00:18:17.859 --> 00:18:20.859 do we look at the world? Are our eyes healthy 00:18:20.859 --> 00:18:25.660 or are our eyes unhealthy? And that leads to 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:28.960 the fifth and final part of Jesus' teaching from 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:32.619 Matthew 6 here on money. And that is that Jesus 00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:39.119 makes the case that money is not neutral. I know 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:42.079 deep down we all want to believe that money is 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.180 just a tool. It's not good or bad in and of itself. 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:47.599 It's just, there's nothing spiritual about it. 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:50.059 But Jesus seems to say, actually, no. There is 00:18:50.059 --> 00:18:52.680 a spiritual aspect to money itself. It doesn't 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:56.200 just sit there quietly in your wallet. It actually 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:01.009 competes for your worship. Jesus says no one 00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:03.630 can serve two masters. You cannot serve both 00:19:03.630 --> 00:19:08.809 God and, what is that word? Mammon. Mammon. Now, 00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:11.809 your Bible probably said money there, but if 00:19:11.809 --> 00:19:14.710 you were to... look in the Greek, you would actually 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:18.829 see that Jesus uses this Aramaic word, mammon, 00:19:18.869 --> 00:19:22.829 and it's not translated into the Greek. And scholars 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.589 think that because Jesus used the word mammon, 00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:30.089 because he was referring to this Syrian god, 00:19:30.329 --> 00:19:34.289 this god of wealth, which was called mammon. 00:19:34.430 --> 00:19:38.670 So in other words, money isn't just like a thing, 00:19:38.890 --> 00:19:44.029 it's a rival god. And Again, we don't want to 00:19:44.029 --> 00:19:45.549 believe that. We don't want to believe that money 00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.690 itself is good or evil. But Jesus seems to know 00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:50.690 better, and he realizes that there's a spiritual 00:19:50.690 --> 00:19:54.349 gravity that money has. And if we don't take 00:19:54.349 --> 00:19:58.170 care, it'll become this satanic force. And it 00:19:58.170 --> 00:20:01.650 does, doesn't it? Doesn't money fuel greed and 00:20:01.650 --> 00:20:04.309 war and violence and injustice and environmental 00:20:04.309 --> 00:20:07.880 degradation all across our planet? So that's 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:10.240 why Jesus doesn't just say, hey, listen, you 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:14.119 should not serve both God and mammon. No, he 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:17.420 says you cannot serve both God and mammon. It's 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:21.220 an impossibility. They are two different gods. 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:23.180 You're either going to love one and hate the 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:27.160 other, or you can't have it both ways. So let's 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.119 just review those five main points Jesus teaches. 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:33.140 We all have this desire to store up money. But 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:37.190 Jesus tells us, To invest our money in God. Don't 00:20:37.190 --> 00:20:40.910 stockpile it on earth. Because if we do, then 00:20:40.910 --> 00:20:42.970 actually our hearts may end up falling in love 00:20:42.970 --> 00:20:45.509 with it. And then we're never going to feel like 00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:49.809 we have enough of it. And soon we'll be worshiping 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:53.589 it as a rival God. Now that sounds horrible. 00:20:53.950 --> 00:20:57.009 Who wants that? Nobody wants that. So how do 00:20:57.009 --> 00:21:00.250 we make sure that that doesn't happen to you 00:21:00.250 --> 00:21:03.069 and doesn't happen to me? How do we become generous? 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.480 People that get real joy from giving it away 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.720 and not holding on to it. Well, I'm going to 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.779 close by suggesting three ways. The first, the 00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:19.900 first way is you have to let God change your 00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:25.779 thinking. Because God shows us what generosity 00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:30.779 looks like. And it's not that just God teaches 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:34.509 us about generosity. It's that God... In God's 00:21:34.509 --> 00:21:37.150 self is generosity. If you think about the idea 00:21:37.150 --> 00:21:40.470 of the Trinity, right? The Trinity, Father, Son, 00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:46.410 and Holy Spirit. This God is a family of self 00:21:46.410 --> 00:21:48.609 -giving love. The Father is always giving to 00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:50.289 the Son. The Son is always giving to the Spirit. 00:21:50.450 --> 00:21:52.250 The Spirit is always giving to the Father. The 00:21:52.250 --> 00:21:54.769 Father is always giving to... There's this ongoing 00:21:54.769 --> 00:21:58.990 generosity and self -sacrifice that is constantly 00:21:58.990 --> 00:22:03.190 happening within... The Trinity within the Godhead 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:06.329 itself, that's just who God is. God, by God's 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:09.710 very nature, is the most generous being in the 00:22:09.710 --> 00:22:13.809 entire universe. One professor put it this way, 00:22:13.869 --> 00:22:18.109 as Trinity, the Christian God is eternally self 00:22:18.109 --> 00:22:23.490 -giving God. God created man in his self -giving 00:22:23.490 --> 00:22:26.289 image. So that's who God is. And we are created 00:22:26.289 --> 00:22:30.230 in the image of God. So you see, becoming a happier, 00:22:30.349 --> 00:22:33.349 more joyful, generous person, it doesn't start 00:22:33.349 --> 00:22:37.410 with me or someone else giving a sermon on, you 00:22:37.410 --> 00:22:42.029 know, tithing. It starts before time. And it 00:22:42.029 --> 00:22:44.750 starts before space and before anything existed 00:22:44.750 --> 00:22:49.259 with just who God is. That's where it all starts. 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:52.240 And Scripture teaches that that is who God is. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:56.000 In Genesis 1, we read that God said, I give you. 00:22:56.059 --> 00:22:58.339 God is giving. He's always, I give you every 00:22:58.339 --> 00:23:00.819 seed -bearing plant. I give you every tree. All 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:05.200 of this is yours. Giving and gave, that language 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.000 comes up again and again in that very first book 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.799 of the Bible. Now, it's very interesting because 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.390 a few verses later, You know, Satan tries to 00:23:14.390 --> 00:23:17.430 convince humankind that God actually isn't generous. 00:23:17.569 --> 00:23:20.829 Oh, did God really say that? Is God really generous? 00:23:20.890 --> 00:23:23.170 Can you really depend on him? Isn't he holding 00:23:23.170 --> 00:23:25.890 out on you? And it is very telling that the very 00:23:25.890 --> 00:23:29.390 first sin that ever happened where human brokenness 00:23:29.390 --> 00:23:32.789 begins, it's actually when we stopped seeing 00:23:32.789 --> 00:23:36.470 God as a generous giver and we started to become 00:23:36.470 --> 00:23:41.210 takers, right? When she saw the fruit, she took. 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:46.200 some of it and ate it. So that's step one. The 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:49.579 first thing we have to do is let God change our 00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:52.880 thinking to recapture this true picture of who 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.799 God is and then let that just work its way through 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.759 your life. You're going to start to become a 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:02.779 more generous person. But the second thing you 00:24:02.779 --> 00:24:05.160 have to do is let the gospel now change your 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.299 heart. God may change your thinking, but Jesus 00:24:07.299 --> 00:24:12.140 wants to change your heart. Generosity. is at 00:24:12.140 --> 00:24:15.140 the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:19.140 God so loved the world that he, say it with me, 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:23.839 gave. His one and only son. Everywhere Jesus 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:27.400 goes, he is giving. Everywhere he goes, there's 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:29.279 generosity. Oh, you've only got a few loaves 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:32.079 of fish? Boom, enough for everyone. Oh, you've 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.099 only got these empty water jars? Boom, wine for 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:37.579 everyone. Oh, you're sick? Oh, you're broken? 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.740 Oh, you're sad? Oh, you're lonely? Boom, here's 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:42.160 healing. Here's more forgiveness. Here's peace. 00:24:42.299 --> 00:24:44.720 Here's a brand new life. Everywhere Jesus goes, 00:24:44.839 --> 00:24:48.640 he is constantly turning scarcity into abundance 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.339 for everyone. But it's on the cross, actually, 00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:57.200 that we see God's generosity most clearly. Jesus 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.900 is the richest being in the entire universe. 00:24:59.980 --> 00:25:03.420 The one who spoke all the galaxies into existence. 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.859 And here he is emptying himself out on the cross. 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:10.779 He became poor. He enters into our poverty. And 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:12.940 he's not just poor financially, but completely. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:15.900 He's poor in comfort. He's poor in power. He's 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:20.450 poor in life. The cross is where this God of 00:25:20.450 --> 00:25:25.869 abundance steps into our scarcity, and he's able 00:25:25.869 --> 00:25:31.650 to turn even death into a gift for us. That's 00:25:31.650 --> 00:25:36.769 the heart of the gospel, that the richest one 00:25:36.769 --> 00:25:40.650 became the poorest, so that the poorest of us 00:25:40.650 --> 00:25:45.950 could become rich in him. And so now once you've... 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:48.440 Let God change your thinking. Oh yeah, that's 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:50.619 who God is. And once you've let the gospel change 00:25:50.619 --> 00:25:52.420 your heart, oh yeah, that's what Jesus did for 00:25:52.420 --> 00:25:56.500 me. Then you can begin to let generosity change 00:25:56.500 --> 00:26:00.799 your habits. If you've been following Jesus for 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:02.920 a little bit, for any amount of time in your 00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:06.299 life, you should start to see change, not just 00:26:06.299 --> 00:26:08.359 in your thinking and not just in your heart, 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:12.029 but in your habits. around money. If you're not 00:26:12.029 --> 00:26:14.130 seeing those kind of changes, then it raises 00:26:14.130 --> 00:26:17.089 a few red flags, like am I stalled out in my 00:26:17.089 --> 00:26:19.890 spiritual growth? Because this should be a natural 00:26:19.890 --> 00:26:25.170 progression. And the research on generosity says 00:26:25.170 --> 00:26:30.369 that it all begins with changing our habits around 00:26:30.369 --> 00:26:33.750 money, right? For generosity to make you happier, 00:26:34.069 --> 00:26:39.390 it can't just be a one -time event. Or it can't 00:26:39.390 --> 00:26:41.690 even be just like random acts of kindness. It 00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:44.910 has to be a habit, a regular part of your life. 00:26:45.029 --> 00:26:46.769 I just want to read to you a little bit from 00:26:46.769 --> 00:26:50.009 this study that I mentioned earlier. This is 00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:53.869 what they say. They say, our emphasis here is 00:26:53.869 --> 00:26:57.809 on practices of generosity, not single generous 00:26:57.809 --> 00:27:01.569 acts. What matters about practices compared to 00:27:01.569 --> 00:27:05.440 one -time acts is that they're repeated. Behaviors 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.279 that involve recurrent intention and attention. 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:11.640 Those are the kind of expressions of generosity 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:16.200 that actually enhance people's well -being. That 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:18.579 become the practices of generosity. Now listen 00:27:18.579 --> 00:27:24.480 to this. By contrast, one -time or infrequent 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:27.359 acts of generosity seem not to be associated 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:30.400 with greater well -being. This includes being 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.200 an organ donor, estate giving through wills, 00:27:34.779 --> 00:27:38.740 lending your possessions or donating blood infrequently. 00:27:40.740 --> 00:27:44.980 This is how habits work on us. I cannot just 00:27:44.980 --> 00:27:47.640 go flip a switch in my heart and get rid of all 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:49.359 the fear and get rid of all the greed and just 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:52.579 become a more generous person. I have to do stuff. 00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:55.980 You know what I can do? I can buy someone lunch. 00:27:56.740 --> 00:28:00.960 That's a thing I can do. I can sponsor a child 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.730 in Honduras. I can do that. I can give to my 00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:08.970 church. And as I practice generosity, God is 00:28:08.970 --> 00:28:10.849 doing something in here. He's doing something 00:28:10.849 --> 00:28:13.029 in my heart. Something that I could never do 00:28:13.029 --> 00:28:16.589 by my own best intentions. I start to move from 00:28:16.589 --> 00:28:19.329 fear to trust. I start to move from worry to 00:28:19.329 --> 00:28:23.150 peace. And yes, I even start to move toward joy. 00:28:23.390 --> 00:28:25.809 And I start to discover that what Jesus said 00:28:25.809 --> 00:28:31.289 is true. That there is more joy in giving than 00:28:31.289 --> 00:28:37.579 in... In closing, let me just ask you this. Have 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:45.180 you ever met an unhappy, generous person? Probably 00:28:45.180 --> 00:28:54.380 not. Have you ever met a former giver? Probably 00:28:54.380 --> 00:28:56.519 not. Maybe they exist, but probably not. Because 00:28:56.519 --> 00:29:01.930 most people who have enjoyed and discovered the 00:29:01.930 --> 00:29:05.170 joy of living a generous life, they never turn 00:29:05.170 --> 00:29:09.029 back. And yes, it costs them financially, but 00:29:09.029 --> 00:29:12.789 they get back far more than they ever give away 00:29:12.789 --> 00:29:19.849 because there's more joy in giving than in receiving. 00:29:22.750 --> 00:29:25.809 We'll pick this up again next week, but for now, 00:29:25.910 --> 00:29:31.200 thanks be to God. Thank you for listening to 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.579 this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This 00:29:33.579 --> 00:29:36.160 sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:39.960 in Mississauga, Ontario on November 2nd, 2025.