Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Are you tired of hearing about all the bad financial
news? Well, I've got news for you. For the next
two weeks, we're going to go on a journey. We're
going to talk about how to live in a way that's
smart with your money, smart with your time,
smart in a way that brings joy and life and encouragement.
And we're going to hear from the wisest financial
counselor in all the universe to help you personally.
Stay with me. Does money consume your thoughts?
The worry, the hoarding, the endless chase for
more, more, and more? It's exhausting. What if
God has a plan to liberate you from the tyranny
of financial gain? Today on Living on the Edge,
Chip Ingram describes a lifestyle that frees
our hearts and transforms our relationship with
God. Drawing from the wisdom of Jesus in Matthew
chapter 6, he'll show us why smart people spend
carefully, wise people save regularly, but genius
people give extravagantly. And along those lines,
I'm pleased to report that our audience is already
displaying the genius of generosity because we're
receiving an outpouring of response to the December
match in which your donation is matched dollar
for dollar. And you can double your gift right
now by going to livingontheedge .org. More later.
But right now, the message from Chip. Why it's
genius to be generous. Until my probably late
20s, The word generosity, I thought, was reserved
for two very special groups of people. People
that were very, very rich. They should be generous
because they have a lot. Or people that are very,
very holy because they're so holy, God will do
special things for them. I'm serious. So, I mean,
it's not like I wanted to be, like, selfish.
I thought I should be moderately generous. But
I mean to be open, lavish, kind. I mean, over
the top, being willing every day in every way
to just share with people. I thought, if I win
the lotto, if I start my own business, if I make
it Major League Baseball, someday then, you know,
it's something to aspire to, to be really generous.
But I don't have a lot of money. So, you know,
generosity would be like graduate level Christianity.
Someday, you know, like the few, the proud, the
Marines, someday if I get really holy, then maybe
I'll be generous. But for right now, you know,
I don't want to be greedy and selfish because
that wouldn't look good and I don't think God
would like it. So I would just sort of like to
be a little generous. And that's sort of how
I looked at things until I met a man named John
Saville. Now, John, you have to know is, He was
75 years old, had come to Christ in his 60s and
had been gone broke a couple times and lived
a life that in some ways he thought, boy, he
really had wasted. And so he'd been a Christian
about 10 years and had this sense of urgency.
In fact, had just this heart to share and love
people. And so he's 75 years old and I'm... the
pastor of this mini church. We got 35 people.
And I'm 28, and I'm the new young pastor, and
I'm filled with zeal and not very much knowledge.
And he's filled with lots of knowledge and not
very much zeal. And he's the chairman of the
elders. And so I've never been an elder. I've
never been a pastor. I told them I was too young
to be an elder, but they said, well, the Constitution
says you're one, so you just have to figure it
out along the way. I said, okay. And so, but
John and I sort of, we would go to meetings.
And once a month, I'd see him. I'd see him in
church. We had nothing in common. He wasn't into
sports. He owned a CPA firm in downtown Dallas
called Savin Dodgel. And, you know, it's just
like, he was a really nice, neat old guy. He
was a little kooky. Honestly. You know, I was
pretty into, had to be a cool Christian and something
good would happen and John would rear back in
a meeting and go, praise the Lord. And I would
go, oh brother, please don't do that one in public,
you know. And so it was about a year and John
gave me a call and he said, Chip, I'd like you
to come down to Dallas and have lunch with me.
I'd like to talk to you. I said, okay, sounds
good. And he said, now you need to wear a tie.
Where we're going to go, you have to have a tie.
In fact, you have to have a coat. And I thought,
oh, brother, I own two ties and one coat, so
okay. And so I got in my beat -up car, and I
drove down downtown Dallas, got to the address,
and it's an all -glass building with all the
other glass buildings, and find a place to park
and go up like the 38th floor or something, and
the doors open, and it's all wood, and, you know,
it says Saville, Dodge, you know, CPA firm, big
firm, and they had this whole floor, and Mr.
Savva, we'll see you now. And I walked back to
his office. Hey, Chip, how are you doing? He
put his arm around me and we walked over to here
and we went to this glass elevator and he punched
it and it opened and we went all the way to the
top floor and it opened and there was this restaurant
and then racquetball courts all made out of glass
and you could see all over the city and we sat
down and someone with a white towel came here
and someone with a towel was over here and they
gave me a menu and I'd never seen a menu like
this because there was no prices on it. I said,
how would you know what to order? There's no
prices on it. I mean, it was like very upper,
upper, upper. And John said, oh, I really want
you to get something you really like, Chip. The
filet is great here. Well, thank you, Mr. Savile.
No, no, it's John. Come on. So we sat down and
we had this lunch. As we got done with lunch,
he said, let's get some coffee, and it sort of
cleared out a little bit, and John had this little
white box, and he put it in front of me, and
he opened the white box, and then he pulled out
a brownish kind of looking checkbook, and he
handed it to me, and he said, open that up, and
so I opened it up, and it said, pastor's discretionary
fund, and he said, look at the stubs in the back,
and so I went to the back, and it had deposit,
5 -0 -0 -0, $5 ,000. He said, Chip, here's what
I'd like to do. I've been watching you for a
year, and I think I can trust you. I want to
have a secret pact. You can't tell anyone about
this. I said, well, what's this all about? He
said, I'm not going to live that much longer,
and I have a real heart for people that are hurting
and people that are poor. And so you, every day,
are touching people that are hurting and poor.
Where we lived, it was a... A little bit of a
depressed area out in the rural area of Texas.
And so what I'd like you to do is I'd like you
to take this checkbook and I'd like you to put
it in your back pocket every day. And any time
you feel God prompting you to meet the need of
a poor person or a hurting person or some sort
of ministry that you think would bring joy to
my heart and glory to God, I want you to take
care of it. And just do it in my name. Don't
tell anybody it's me, but all I want you to do
is... And so you'll notice on the front of your
notes, I actually put this. It says, John had
a desire, help poor and hurting people. I had
an opportunity. I interacted with a lot of poor
and hurting people. And so we made a deal. And
then what he said is like every three or four
months, I'll give you a call and we'll have lunch
like this. And I mean, it was a lavish lunch
and it was, and I would sit down about every
four months and I would tell John stories about
what I did with his money. And early on, you
know, like the first, I remember driving back
in my little un -air -conditioned car and thinking,
oh man, what if I mess up and this is his money
and who am I going to give it to and I don't
know when and why. And I got real uptight for
like three or four days. And then I thought,
you know, what the heck? How bad can it be giving
people money away? And so I remember the first
time I was in a grocery line and there was this
young mom and, you know, have you ever been where
someone has groceries and they don't have enough
money to pay and they're trying to figure out,
you know, how much. take out of the basket? And,
you know, well, she goes, I'm really sorry, but
my husband, you know, he's kind of on a binge
right now, and he's left us, and so I don't have,
I'm going to drive to my mother's, but I don't
have gas, and here's my three kids. And, you
know, this was sort of like a no -brainer, and
I said, excuse me, ma 'am, do you, like, need
some more food to go? And she goes, well, I,
and I checked it out, and it was for real, and
I said, you know, why don't you get your basket
and get what you really need? And she did, and
she came back, and then I said, and I paid for
that, and then I said, don't you need some gas?
I heard she He goes, and the Safeway, 7 -Eleven
was there. And I said, well, come on over here.
And I took care of that. And then pretty soon
there was someone who's ice cold and was an elderly
couple and they couldn't pay their electric bill.
And I took care of that. And, you know, it went
from sort of like, oh, I'm afraid to mess up
to this is fun. I mean, I lost my keys about
20 times in the first three years of our marriage.
And so finally, right next to where I went out
the door, there's a little ledge, and I put my
wallet, my keys, and John's checkbook. And every
day, it was just my ritual. Wallet, keys, checkbook.
And so every day, I'm walking around. Can you
imagine? Every day, I'm walking around thinking,
I wonder who God wants me to bless and love and
help with John's money. And it got to be a blast,
actually. It was really fun. And you got to see
what would happen. And then so story after story
after story. And then John would call and say,
how's it going? I said, great. He says, Chip,
praise the Lord. Come on down and have lunch.
So, you know, I'd go down. And pretty soon it
was like, hey, up the glass elevator, walk in.
Hey, I'll see you what? Get Mr. Savile. We would
go up. And sometimes we'd have a three -hour
lunch. And I'd tell him story after story after
story. And then after a while, I noticed that.
When I gave the money to certain ways with certain
people, I got a real loud praise the Lord. And
when I did other things, oh, praise the Lord.
So I'm not dumb. I started looking to, I think
I'd like to give the money more where it really
fires him up. And three things happened. This
is an amazing relationship. I did this for about
six, seven years. later moved from that little
church, and John later went home to be with the
Lord. But three things happened. Number one,
rarely a day went by that I didn't think of John.
Now think of that. I mean, before it was like
once a month, elders meeting, or I might see
him, but I never thought of John. I mean, we
didn't work out together. We didn't have any
common interest. But now that I'm spending his
money every day, I'm thinking about John, asking
the question, I wonder what John would want me
to do. Second thing that happened is I strangely
became far more meticulous about balancing his
checkbook than my own. And I'm a big picture
person. I didn't really like details. And I never
had that much money, so I didn't think it mattered.
So if I had $400 or $500 and the bank statement
come, if it was within $20, that was close enough
for me. You know, the bank's probably right anyway.
Well, this was not a good plan for my wife who's
not made it all like that. She goes, we need
to know exactly. Oh, well, you know, it's going
to take me two hours or three hours to figure
out because I wasn't very good at details then
either. So what I realized, however, I couldn't
tell Teresa about this. So I just somehow learned
to get very meticulous. I mean, I'm going to
give an account to an accountant. Are you kidding
me? I mean, it's not like, well, hey, John, you
know, I spent about $1 ,200, $1 ,400 in the last
couple months, or, you know, I helped people,
$3 ,000. I mean, give or take $500. I mean, that's
not going to work with John. So, I mean, I got
really good at keeping very clear track. The
third thing that happened, and this I never expected,
is John and I became best friends. Literally
best friends. I started going to those prisons
with him. We hung out together. as he bought
extravagant lunches and I told extraordinary
stories of our quarterly celebrations. And what
you need to hear, there was no sense of obligation.
There was no sense that we were doing some big
righteous thing. We weren't martyrs. We weren't
saving the world. It was like an adventure, a
celebration of taking someone else's money and
his heart and being his representative and just
having a blast. Does anyone here think there
might be a parallel? See, generosity, the genius
of generosity, first, it has nothing to do with
how much money you have or don't have. Zero.
It has nothing to do with how holy you think
you are or are not. It has everything to do with
understanding God has given us all things. Time,
energy, money, talent that belong to him. And
every day is an adventure where he's bringing
people across your path that he wants some of
the time deposited in you to go over here and
some of the talent to go over there and some
of the money to go over there. And it's like,
and by the way, when you give it out, here's
what God promises. I'll make sure I fill up the
account. Because after my lunches, John would
never say a word, but I'd get my bank statement.
So I'd spend $2 ,000 one quarter and maybe $3
,000 another quarter and maybe only $1 ,100 another
quarter. And then I'd get my bank statement and
guess what? Boop, $5 ,000. He would just fill
it up. And that's the way it is with God. The
goal of generosity, the goal with our money and
our time and our talent, really, his heart is
to build a relationship. His heart behind this
is not that we just, quote, get things done.
It's not just that we're generous with our money.
It's the gateway to intimacy. It's one of the
major ways God connects our heart with his heart.
In fact, let me give you a definition of genius
and of generosity, and I think you'll see why
I named the series this. The word genius is from
the root word meaning to produce. To be a genius,
actually, it's to produce something. It's the
personification of quality. We call someone a
genius who has great natural ability for a particular
activity. And so Einstein is a genius in physics
and Bill Walsh was a genius in terms of offense
and football. Any person with a high intelligence,
a high IQ, we call them a genius. The special
ability. It's being wise. It's being a little
bit beyond smart. Now, the word generosity comes
from a root word. This was interesting. To be
generous, the root word comes from noble birth
or something that's excellent, generous, having
qualities associated with being like a king or
a queen or a prince or a princess. It's to be
noble -minded and gracious, magnanimous. It has
the underlying, a willingness at every moment
of time to share. The Hebrew word for generous
literally means overflowing with water. It's
a picture of not just meeting people's needs,
but soaking it and overflowing and water being
a picture of that which gives life. The Greek
word for generosity is the word for ready at
any moment to distribute, ready to share, ready
to give. And all I want you to know is we're
going to talk about being beyond smart, beyond
wise. about being genius. Do you see the bright
idea on the top of your notes? It says to be
smart, and you should be smart, you should spend
carefully. To be wise, and you should be wise,
you should save regularly. But to be genius,
you should give extravagantly. That's what I
got to do with John's money. And it taught me
a lot about how God, my father, has entrusted
things to me, and he wants me to be smart, and
he wants me to be wise. but he wants them to
be a genius. We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's
message in just a moment. First, we invite you
to multiply your year in support of Living on
the Edge through an exciting match that's active
through December 31st. Every gift is matched.
Every dollar multiplied by two. Every investment
maximized for kingdom impact. Double the impact
of your gift at livingontheedge .org. from a
series called The Genius of Generosity. Again,
our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. Let me give you
four reasons now why it is genius to be generous.
Because I'm just going to guess, at least there's
one or two people that maybe have my background.
And it's not like you want to be selfish, and
heaven forbid you don't want to be greedy. But
the idea of being extravagantly generous is like
fearful and like it might be for someone else.
So let me give you four specific reasons why.
Generosity is, in fact, genius. Number one, generosity
changes our lives. Generosity changes our lives.
It blesses our lives. It enriches our lives.
It makes life better. The very last words we
ever hear in the Bible from Jesus are this, and
they're not in the Gospels. It's a quote from
Acts. Where the Apostle Paul quotes Jesus and
says, Jesus said, it's more blessed to give than
to receive. The word blessed, you know what it
means? Happy, welfare, good, uplifting, encouraging.
People who give are more blessed even than those
who give receive. I mean, this is the ultimate
win -win proposition. When you give and when
you're generous, a good feeling comes inside.
Well, guess what? Here's the win -win. You get
a good feeling by giving. The people who receive
what you give, they get a good feeling by receiving.
And God says, when I find people that are liberal
and generous, I will fill up their account again.
Because I'm looking for people that will be a
stream. I'm looking for people that I can drop
things in the stream and it goes and they can
use whatever they need and then it goes on and
they love people. But a lot of people are a dam.
God drops it in and hits the dam. Well, you never
know. Rainy day, a lot of difficult things. And
so they just keep saving, saving, hoarding, hoarding.
And even when they share, they kind of share
with this, well, I feel obligated. I guess if
I'm supposed to help out with this. But what's
it like when you're around someone who says,
hey, I got the bill this time? People are winsome
and attractive and people that are generous with
their time. People say, hey, I know you're moving.
Does anyone like to move? No, I'll be over Saturday
moon. I'll help you out. What do you think about
those kind of people? Those are the kind of people
you want to be around. Generous people have friends.
Generous people are attractive. Generous people
are happier. What's the opposite of being generous?
Miserly. We say, oh, he's an old miser. I mean,
how many people this year are saying, I want
to be like Scrooge? I mean, he's no one's hero.
Are you ready? The root word for a miser? Same
root word as miserable. Selfish, greedy, non
-generous people are alone, isolated, and miserable.
Now, in Christian circles, what happens is we
work at appearing generous and can be miserly
in our heart. Because we want to appear like
we're caring. We want to appear like we're generous.
We want to appear like we're loving. But real
generosity comes out of the heart where you really
want to help others. You're willing to share
knowing that as you give it away, God will take
care of you. Second reason is generosity connects
us with others. A generous man will prosper and
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Proverbs 11, 25. A generous, literally that word
prosper, a generous man will be fat. It doesn't
mean, you know, like. You need to go to Jenny
Craig or Weight Watchers, but it's this idea
that you'll prosper, you'll have more than you
need, and he who refreshes others, when you give
and are kind to others, will himself be refreshed.
When you give and when you're generous of your
time and generous of your talent and generous
with your money, generous with your stuff, let
people use your car, let them use your house,
let them use this, when you're generous, it connects
you with people. I'll never forget, I learned
this in a graphic way when I was pastoring in
Santa Cruz. You know, I had four kids under the
roof, and I had to get my part done early. And
the way I worked it is I just got up real early
so I could get my sermon and my time done. And
we were at a real rapidly growing time, and I
had a lot of people reporting to me. So I knew
that by 8 .30 in the morning or 9 when I came
in, if I didn't have my work done for the day,
I was in trouble. So there was a little, actually
called a donut shop. They make bagels. And it
was a Cambodian family that came to the States.
And the whole family did it, and it was sort
of a hole in the wall, and they would start those
bagels like at 3 .30, 4 in the morning. And so
I'd get there about 4 .30, and they would put
on a couple pots of coffee, and there was a little
table in the corner, and about 4 .30, I'd get
some coffee, and I would study from 4 .30 to
about 8, 8 .30. And when I came by, usually then
a guy came in, his name was Mike, and he sat,
and he was a homeless guy. And he sat, and he,
I guess, had enough money for just one cup of
coffee. And if you've ever seen people who've
done really heavy -duty drugs, I mean, they're
etched, and he was always really, really dirty,
and he looked scary. Have you seen people that
look scary? And every day, he would sit there
like this. And, hi, I mean, I didn't know his
name. I mean, you know, just walked by, and he
was just in a stupor. And this went on for, like,
over a year. And so I'd be in the corner, and
then at 6 .30, a bunch of guys, every day they
would come, 6 .00, 7 .00, they would talk until
about 8 .00. The 8 .30 group would come in. It
was just my little corner, you know. And one
day I just thought, I was actually studying about
generosity, and I said, hey, Mike, can I buy
you a cup of coffee? No, no, no, I mean it. You
know, want a bagel too? And he kind of turned
his head, and he goes, yeah. So I got him a cup
of coffee. You take anything in it? And I brought,
hmm. I mean, I'm just thinking maybe he can't
talk. And so I bring a cup of coffee and he didn't
want a bagel. And okay, great. You know, so much
for that. Hey, Lord, I was really generous. I
don't know what I was expecting. And about five
minutes later, he turned around because people
came in and I'd say hi to him. He says, your
name Chip? I said, yeah. Chip, did you see the
sunrise this morning? And, you know, I didn't
notice. He goes, look. And there was glass next
to us. And it was beautiful. I mean, pink, like
you just couldn't hardly imagine. And then he
pointed. He says, you see that bright star right
there? I said, yeah. He says, that's Venus. It's
only going to be like that two, maybe three more
days. And I don't know why I said, hey, guys
who are over there, come look at this. And we
looked at all these guys and we're looking at
the sunrise and the star. And I'm thinking, how
does this guy know this? And then I just sat
down with him. It cost me a dollar and a half
to buy a guy, and I found out why and how his
children were gone, what he'd been through, where
he'd been double -crossed, why he was on the
streets, why he slept in the car. He was a master
craftsman. He was actually a very, very smart
guy. We actually became friends. In fact, even
after I left Santa Cruz, when I would come back
and visit, I would get up real early and go over,
and there'd Mike, and I mean the guy, would hug
me. And it cost me a dollar and a half. Generosity
connects you to people. Generosity is the smartest,
wisest, best way to live. Third, generosity helps
us invest in what matters most. I mean, you just
need to mark this down. Every one of us worships
something or someone. Okay? I mean, you might
write that in your notes. Every one of us worships
something or someone. Where your money goes tells
you who or what you worship. In other words,
Jesus is just real clear. Every one of us has
something or someone that we think that deserves
my energy, that deserves my time, that deserves
my money. And what I'm expecting is that is going
to produce security and significance and happiness.
Everyone on the face of the earth worships something.
And some people worship success and some work
and some golf and some of their kids and some
of their mate and some Jesus. And so Jesus is
going to be like a wise investment counselor
in the Sermon on the Mount. And he's going to
say, Don't invest over here because it won't
turn out bad ROI. But I do want you to invest
over here, very positive ROI. And by the way,
here's why. Look at it. There's a negative command
and there's a positive command. And then he gives
the reason. And this is sort of investment counseling.
He says, do not store up for yourselves treasure
on earth where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal. And would you underline
the word for yourselves? Now, the way that you
would accumulate wealth was through fine clothing,
precious metals, and grains. And so, even that
word rust has the idea not just of metals, but
maybe of varmints getting in and eating your
grain and ruining it. And so, basically, the
grammar here is stop investing solely on earth.
And the reason is because you can suffer great
loss. All those are temporal. On a bad day, a
thief comes in or the rats get into your grain
or someone steals it. Now, by the way, he's not
saying it's wrong to save because the scripture
tells us elsewhere to save. He's not saying that
it's wrong to prepare for the future. You know,
the writer of Proverbs says you need to make
provision and think about what's going to come.
And it's not wrong to have something nice. We're
actually commanded in Scripture to enjoy the
good things God gives us. This is a prohibition
against selfish, greedy hoarding that you think
that this is now and I'm going to have it and
my life, my success, my power, my happiness is
going to come from investing my time and energy
in the right now, in temporal stuff. Then he
gives the other advice. He says, but store up.
Now, would you underline why? For yourselves.
This is for your benefit. He's giving wise investment
counseling, treasures in heaven where moth and
rust do not destroy and where thieves can't break
in and steal. In other words, it's a better investment
because when you make this investment, 100 %
return. And so all through the gospels, Jesus
talks about what's it, so what would be like
to invest treasure in heaven? Treasure in heaven
in Luke 16 is you give your money and your time
to help other people come to Christ. And when
you get to heaven, they will welcome you because
you gave. When you give a cup of cold water,
when you provide relief and love in the name
of Jesus, there'll be a reward. That's an eternal
heavenly treasure. When you use your money to
make disciples, when you use your money, to help
the poor. You're lending to the Lord. All those
things. He says, there's a bank account with
your name on it with very specific reward in
heaven that can't be touched by thieves or rust
or moss. So he says, that's great. Then he gives
you the reason. Look at verse 21. For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also. Literally
meaning, it says, for where you treasure your
treasure, that's where your heart will be. So
what he's saying is, There's a relationship between
what you worship. Don't make a bad investment
where it'll be temporal, loss, can change overnight.
Some of you know about that, right? Jesus is
just saying. He's not saying you're more righteous,
more holy, you're better than other people when
you invest in the things that last. He's just
saying there are smart investors and there's
dumb investors. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram. And what you've heard today is the
very first message in a practical teaching series
called The Genius of Generosity. Generous living
is joyful living. Now, don't go away. Chip has
more to say on today's topic coming up in just
a moment. Living on the Edge is celebrating 30
years of God's blessing. And over these three
decades, our commitment to the cause of Christ
has only grown deeper. In fact, we're more determined
to share a cold cup of water to those who are
thirsty than ever before. Chip, each time Living
on the Edge is broadcast to the world, Christians
begin to discover the joy of living like Christians,
even when life is hard. Sunday morning is easy.
But what about Monday morning when you face a
difficult boss? Or Tuesday afternoon when you
get that diagnosis? or Wednesday night when your
teenager is making choices that absolutely break
your heart. This is where most Christians struggle,
not with Sunday faith, but with everyday faith.
And you know, Living on the Edge teaches believers
how to think biblically about real life, how
to handle their money God's way, how to navigate
relationships with wisdom, and how to face suffering
without losing hope. When you give to this match,
You're equipping Christians to live out their
faith in the real trenches of life and not just
in the safety of a church service. We're committed
to helping Christians live like Christians 24
-7, 365, that literally as they walk with Jesus,
it comes out of their life and their heart and
their lips and impacts people around them. Three
decades of God's provision. Point to one truth.
He's not done yet. Living on the edge's greatest
impact lies ahead. If there's ever been a day
where we need Christians to live like Christians,
it's now, and you're invited to be a part of
it. Through this match, your gift doubles instantly.
More pastors equipped, more families strengthened,
more believers reached. Will you multiply your
impact right now? You can respond to Chip right
now by giving online at livingontheedge .org
or call this number, 888 -333 -6003. To send
your support in the mail, address your envelope
to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
GA 30024. You can also call 888 -333 -6003 or
visit us online at livingontheedge .org. I'm
Dave Drury, inviting you to join us when Chip
Ingram continues to describe the genius of generosity
tomorrow on Living on the Edge.