Generosity // Selfless Love

Coming soon!

Hey, good morning, church. Man, it's so good to see you guys this morning. I'm super excited about today's message. A couple of things I want to catch up before we're going to read some scripture here in a second. We've had like a wild week this week here at the church. Really just one wild thing happened, but it was really, it was a really crazy thing and I thank God. So, some of you guys know Wednesday night we had to cancel youth and we had to cancel our generosity class because about , a company that shall not be named, was burrowing some lines and right outside these doors out there like along the fence line busted a natural gas pipe, like busted it wide open and it was like pouring out, like gas was pouring out and they called me when I was on my way up here and they're like, there's a gas leak and I'm like, okay, and they're like, it's bad. And I'm like, well, how bad could it really be? And I parked over here and I got out of my car and I almost passed out. This is how this middle source wrong. And this was over there by the time we left. If you could be over in locks parking lot beyond lock and it smelled like the stove was just burning right in your face, right? All the buildings were filled with gas. Everything was filled with gas. We had to ultimately they shut the power down for the whole campus. We had to evacuate the whole place, all the staff. So we got everything out of there. It was wild. It was so much and so much gas was happening. It was, it felt like a junior high joke, but we couldn't, we couldn't do it. And so I'm thankful for the fire department. They came out here and kept everyone safe. O and G came out here, AEP, all those people came out here and took care of it. And it's all, and we're all good now. And now there's like no smell of gas for the most part. Or if you smell it, it's not O and G. So, you know, look at your neighbor and give them a bad face, I guess. But it was wild. It was crazy. And we had to fix a bunch of stuff that broke as a result of having the power slammed off the way it was. But it's all good. We're all here and I'm really, really thankful to be here. Man, I'm just excited. I miss last week. It's wild because I was out of town last week. I was on my son's senior trip helping with that. And the week before we were in the other building, which was crazy. And so it's like, man, I'm just so excited to be back in here with you guys in this room. And so much cool stuff's happening. So here's what I want to do. I want to go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word. We're going to be reading out of Romans chapter five, verse eight. It says this.

 It says, "But God shows His love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For and while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

 Much more now that we were reconciled shall we be saved by His life." Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for today. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity we have to come and to learn and to grow in your love and your mercy, to grow in the understanding of your word, to worship you, to fellowship with believers. Lord, I just thank you for this time, for this moment, for this holy place that we get to be together, Lord. We thank you for everything that you're doing here in this church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.

 You may be seated. You may be seated. Well, listen, this is week nine of our generosity series. It's the last week of our generosity series.

 Some of you are like, "Boo," and some of you are like, "Yay." But it's the last week, no matter where you fall on it, it's going to be good. And in case you missed any of the weeks, you can always go back and listen to them. But we've done several things. We talked about abundance versus scarcity mindset. We talked about contentment and greed. We talked about stewardship and ownership. We talked about giving versus hoarding or our keeping. We took some time in our family service to look at our mission statement in light of generosity and how does that, how do we live that way. We walked through a psalm and talked about how does our vision look differently? How do we see the world differently, like Jesus sees the world so that it becomes our reality. We talked about the difference between living in the garden and living in exile. And what do you do when it looks like all around you, you're in the desert as opposed to in the garden. And then last week Pastor Andrew walked us through the exercise where we learned how do we live with both hands open and how can we use our resources, not just our money, but in everything that we have to be able to support and to serve and to find the value. And so that's where we've been and where we're going. And I was talking to a buddy last week and he was like, "Man, you've been in this series at the time, it's been seven weeks." He's like, "Seven weeks?" And I was just, it was, I was interested because in seven weeks you still have not brought up talking about giving money to the church in seven weeks. And then last week we didn't talk about it necessarily either. And I was like, "Yeah, that's true." And he's like, "Is that intentional?" I was like, "Well, it's maybe partially intentional. It's also the reality that generosity is not less than money, but it's so much more than money." And so today, just in case you're now getting anxious, I'm still not talking about giving money to the church.

 But I will give you a quick thought because I don't want to get past it because I don't think it should be taboo. I think the problem is, and we've walked through this in this season, if you've been here through this series, you've heard my heart in different times. The problem is things become uncomfortable when we allow things to be off, like you're not allowed to talk about it or we allow past hurts or wounds or different things to fester. And so here's the thing. This is my short thing about giving to the church and giving financially to church because what you do in your money, like specifically your dollar bucks for the Bluey fans in the room, and what they mean is they are a representation of who you are, right? And where we spend those matter. And I believe that if you're a member of this church, right? Not if this is your first time visiting, not if you're just here visiting with some friends, not a minute. But if this is your church home, this is where you come in this season, you feel rooted, you feel planted, that we all have an opportunity and even a responsibility to financially support what we're doing as a church. Because everything that we do as a church, all the ministry we're able to do, and whatever that looks like, is a result of you and I, the people who belong to this church coming together and pulling our financial resources to be able to execute the mission that God has for us. And the truth is, what we get to do as a church and how much ministry we get to do as a church is directly related to the, in many ways, to the financial resources that we have at church. Like we have a lot of dreams, we have a lot of plans, we have a lot of vision of what we'd love to do, and the thing that we need to be able to make those things happen is the resources to be able to do many of them. Because the truth is, the staff itself is incredible, they are talented, they are motivated, they can do so many things. And there are so many of you in this room who have vision, who have skills, who have talents, and sometimes there's just resources that we need to be able to make certain things happen. And so it's such a powerful thing. Like you know, if our church budget went up % next year, which would be awesome, the result would be we get to do % more ministry than what we're doing right now. Like that's just how it works. I don't get a commission basis of what's happening. If it goes up %, my pay doesn't go up. My pay won't go up. Like that's where it's at. I'm very comfortable where I'm at in my life. Like this is where I'm at in the season. And that's the thing that we get to do and understand. And so people will sometimes they want just a real finite number. They want to say, just tell me how much to give. Just tell me how much to give. We just tell me how much to give and then I can take it off. And here's the problem. I love you too much to just tell you how much to give.

 Because the real wrestling, the real question is between you and God and this discerning process of inviting Him into your life and finding what it is that you should be giving in this season with your money.

 With your money. Listen, % like we've if you grew up in a church, you've heard that number. I think that's a great reference point. And here's the problem. The only problem with %. For some of you in this room, % is not possible. You're in a season where you could not do %. Like it is an impossibility through many different reasons. And in this time and in this place, like you can't give % of what you're of what where you're at. And listen, that's okay. There's an opportunity to invite God in this process. And then there's also people in this room who % is not near enough of how much you should be giving this room.

 Because God has something better for you because God has placed you in a place where you can be generous. Like here's the thing that I believe in. I think there's people in this room that at some point in their life, I can't tell you who, I can't tell you when, that at some point in their life, you will be living in a way in which you are giving away more money every month than you make.

 Why? Because that's the opportunity and the invitation that God has created and is placed in your life. And there'll be some of you in this room that you may never actually get to that point where you're hitting %.

 Because that's just the place and the season and the time that God has for you. We are not called to all give equally. We're all called to give out of the same level of sacrifice. We're all called to give out of the place of joyous giving. We're all called to be able to invite God in the process and say, "God, what would you have me give today and how can I be generous with my finances?"

 But that's just one part. Giving with your finances for some of us is hard. For some of us is easy. You've heard people talk in these videos over the last couple of weeks.

 Some people, giving of their money is easy, but giving of their time is hard. For some people, giving of their money is really hard, but they're generous with other things. We all get to walk through and understand that we have different callings and different purposes. And so when it comes down to supporting the church and you say, "Do you think I should give to this church?" Yeah. And the reason I think you should give to this church is because, one, I believe with my whole heart what we're doing is this church. I believe where we're going is a church. I believe the callings. I believe that the people who work at this church and the staff who work at this church do the literally the most. Like, if you understood how far they stretch resources and how valuable they see it, I'm like, "This is the place where you can invest it and know they are taking this seriously because it matters." Like, it matters a lot. Like, what we get to do as a church. And so you are here, and many of you, the vast majority of you here in this room already give, already give. And some of you are thinking about giving. Some of you are thinking about changing the amount you give. And the thing that I would invite you to, the thing within your money and your resources, is to say, "Invite God and just say, "God, what would you have me do?" And start wherever he says. Be obedient to it and then continue to have that conversation. Because it's not a onetime conversation. It wasn't it. In , God told me to give $. I've been giving it every month since then. And I think I'm doing pretty good. If that's the case, this is great. $ is awesome. But like, if that's the thing, like, we don't just get to check this box one time and move forward. Like, this is an invitation of inviting God to say, "How can I use my resources?" And so generosity is so much more than just money, but it's not less than money. And it's a part of what we get to walk through. And so my encouragement as someone who loves you, as someone who believes in what we're doing as a church, is invite God and say, "What can we do?" And if you've never given to the church, start giving. You say, "I don't know. $ a month, that's not really going to do much. I'm telling you, $ a month changes things. It changes things in our church. Like, it doesn't matter. You may say, "How much can you do for one thing?" One person giving $ is not a lot, but when a lot of people come together, what we do communitally as a team is so great. It's so powerful. And we're able to far expand. And then when you match all that with the really big factor of, "Then we give it to God, the one who can multiply and who can do miracles," things are transformed. Things are different here in our community. Things are different here in our church. And it's such a beautiful thing. So wherever you're at, never giving. Give every week. Give religiously. Give without thinking. Give generously. No matter where you find yourself at, my encouragement, my challenge, my thing that I'm cheering you on is to invite God and say, "God, what should I give? What should I do?" And the reason I say that, and I do this, is because I actually think

 that for most people, maybe for everyone, that actually getting your money right, although it's a challenge and it's a process and things we have to invite God into, I actually don't think it's the hardest thing in the world of generosity.

 I actually don't think it's the hardest thing to do in the realm of generosity. Because I think there's one thing that we are all called to do that we all have capacity in that's actually a bigger challenge in our life of how to live generously than even our money, maybe even our time. Like there's this idea. Because you see, Jesus came, and I want to kind of look at this idea, and I want to make a statement, and then we kind of walk through this process. The greatest act of generosity that the world has ever seen, the greatest act of generosity that you and I are ever able to partake in, is the gift of Jesus that was given by the Father.

 God giving His Son as a sacrifice for men and women, that is the greatest act of generosity that we can see. That is the greatest gift that has ever been expressed in physical form. And we get to see this, and what's wild is, is when we look at the life of God, and we look at the life of Jesus that He lived physically here on this earth, we see this pattern, we see this idea, this invitation that Jesus gives us, to live in a way that expresses generosity in the heart of God in a really profound and lifechanging way.

 And so here's the thing, Jesus started His ministry, and the way that He proclaimed His ministry, and we don't have time to go through all the verses today, but He basically talked about, "Hey, there's a new Moses, there's a new Adam, and there's a new Exodus that's happening.

 You all are currently in a wilderness that's in lack, and there's a new person who's here to lead you to salvation. He goes and He gets baptized, He passes through the waters, the Spirit of God descends on Him, and then He immediately goes into the wilderness, and He confronts the powers and the principalities of this world,

 and what the Bible calls the Satan in the wilderness, and not only does He pass the temptation test, He literally announces this new way of life is happening, that there's something happening. And then He goes and begins His ministry, and He announces that the Kingdom of God, this new heaven on earth, this new Garden of Eden, this new creation is beginning with Him, and that He's starting this new thing, and He begins to walk through this process. And in His life and in His ministry, He's constantly walking through and balancing this process of teaching about the Kingdom of God that is coming, teaching about the forgiveness of sins, and then also encountering death, sickness, and violence, and breaking it and freeing it and healing it, while simultaneously coming against the powers and the principalities of the world, and saying that He is greater than all of those things, that He has the power over death, over sickness, over disease, over life. This is the thing that Jesus walked through, and we get to see over and over through this story.

 And one of the things that He also did is that He gave teachings on what it looks like to live in this new Kingdom of God as a believer, as a follower of God. And we talked about it, maybe you've seen some of the youth shirts that we have, this was like a play on this in the Sermon on the Mount, like we talked about the good life. It teaches you how to live the good life. Some of you maybe learned it when you were studying the Sermon on the Mount, like the blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, like the beatitudes are the blessings. Like this is the thing that when you take that word, it's really this idea of like, I'm going to teach you how to live so you can experience the good life. That Jesus had to say, I'm going to teach you how to experience the good life. But then when you go and read what He says the good life looks like, it's not the life that you and I would ever pick. I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be lost. I don't want to be broken. Like all the things that Jesus says is this upside down continual change of what it looks like to experience the good life and all revolves around this intimacy with God. And in the middle of His teaching on the Sermon on the Mount teaching, which is this beautiful thing and we got to do a whole series, like, I don't know, like  weeks or something last year. It was really good to do so myself.

 But I want to read this passage in Matthew chapter five.

 He says this, you have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

 Now let's just stop right here. Show of hands.

 And yes, I want everyone to vote. And yes, some of you will be wrong. And no, no one will be guilty that they're shamed. And maybe I am recording it for future sake.

 You shall love God and hate your enemy. Is that a Bible verse in the Old Testament?

 That's the question. Yes or no? If it's yes, raise your hand. It's Bible verse in the Old Testament.

 Okay. If it's no, raise your hand. Raise your hand if it's no. Not everyone's raising their hand. So I'm assuming if you don't raise your hand, you're thinking it's yes.

 No one said yes. Good job, Bible nerds. It's only half, right? Obviously, love God isn't the Bible. But hate your enemy, that's not in there at all. Now, but that was a very common extrapolation. And there were other noncannical writings that had that very teaching. Like, that was the teaching. You can love God, but then you get to hate your enemies. And they would base that on. You see some of this kind of language sometimes where you're like, "Well, that kind of seems like..." You know, we've talked about when you read the Psalms, and it's like really great. It's like, "Oh, how good you are. How beautiful are the hills?" And then it's like, "I can't take their babies and bash them on the thing of the rock and their names are so funny." And you're like, "Whoa, we got real serious about the enemies all of a sudden."

 Like, David really hated those enemies sometimes. At least that's what it looked like. And so people are like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can love God and you can love your neighbor, but you don't have to love your enemies because they're against you." They're on the other side. We don't want the same things.

 But Jesus says this, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

 Now, remember, this is Jesus. This wasn't in like a tolerant society. This is a nation that is under occupation. This is a nation who has enemies all around. This is a place where there is not a friendly reception. Most places that Jewish people go, like they are living in a place where it's like, "When you're asking me to love my enemies, you're basically asking me to love basically everyone

 because nobody likes us.

 Pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

 Now, he then begins to get into teacher mode, and he gives a little different picture. And he says, "How?" He's pacing this thing. He says, "You can love your enemies, and when you love your enemies, you will be like God."

 Now, if that sounds familiar, that idea, this is like a plight. Like this is this whole idea. Remember, Satan says, "Hey, if you just do your own thing, if you take this for yourself,

 you will know good and evil, and you will be like God.

 You'll be like God." But here Jesus says, "If you love your enemies,

 you will be sons of your Father." How do I know that God's like this? How do I know that God is good and that He wants you to love your enemies? Because he says, "For He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good." And he sings reign to the just and the unjust.

 Picture yourself in a mindset that you live in an agrarian society. You're a person who lives by the seasons and harvests and things are a really big deal. And you really believe that God blesses the righteous and like this is like a promise. It's like, "Okay, good. We're the chosen people of Israel. We're like blessed, and we're going to go through and we're going to serve Him, and we're going to do all this kind of stuff. And I want to see the result of that in my life, and the result will be me being able to choose, will be God's singing and blessing me." And there was a lot of religion in the Middle Eastern world, Near Eastern world around the idea of like harvest and the God of the harvest and all this kind of stuff and weather. Like that was a whole thing. And like the Jews believe that God produced good crops and all this kind of stuff. So it's like, "God, yeah, you're going to bless me." And so it's like, "I'm living good, and here's my field." And then all of a sudden you wake up one day and it's sunny and you're like, "Oh God, this is so good. This sun is coming because you love me, and you're good to me because I am choosing to follow you." And then later that afternoon it rains and it waters all your crops. Like, "Yeah, God, this is good. This is happening because I'm righteous and because I'm obeying God, and this is why it's happening. Like this is really good. I'm doing a really good job." But then all of a sudden you look across the street to your neighbor who's a scumbag.

 And you're like, "That guy is the worst. He doesn't offer sacrifice. He doesn't fast. He cheats on everything. He covets things. I think it's easier to say which commandments he doesn't break.

 And somehow he's still getting the same sun that I got, and he's still getting the same rain I got.

 God, I'm really thankful for the sun and the rain, but I need you to only let it go here, not there,

 because he's actually not your friend. He's an enemy of you. So how are you going to let the sun shine and the rain rain on the righteous and unrighteous? Because then all of a sudden I start to ask my question, what am I doing this for? If I'm just going to get the same sun as the unrighteous person, and if I'm going to get the same rain as the unrighteous person, then why am I trying to be good?

 I could be bad, and I could still get the same sun and the same sun. In fact, I don't know if you're changing anything.

 Maybe I'm doing all this for nothing.

 And I think God would answer it. Maybe you're doing it for the wrong reason.

 But you see, Jesus says, "My God is so abundant that he makes it shine on the unrighteous and the righteous. He makes the rain pour on the righteous and the rain." This is who he is. He's abundant because he still shows love to people who are his enemies. So then he says, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?"

 And we've talked about this before, but you know, literally tax collectors was the lowest of the low.

 If there's any tax collectors in the room, I don't think you're bad unless you audit me. And then you are the lowest of the low. No, just kidding. I'm kidding.

 IRS is so great.

 They were so low. This is how low they were. They weren't even allowed to go and worship in the temples and the synagogues.

 Even prostitutes were allowed to go worship in the temple and the synagogues. But tax collectors weren't.

 Like they were considered the scum of the universe.

 And Jesus, one has already recruited one for his team, which is wild.

 Jesus was a wild guy.

 And then he says, "Even tax collectors love people who love them." And you're like, "Oh gosh, I'm not feeling so good about myself anymore." He says, "If you greet only your brother, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?"

 You therefore must be, the ESV says, "Perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." The word there is telios, which means complete or whole.

 You must find wholeness, completeness, just like God is whole and complete.

 And then he just kind of keeps it moving.

 He paints this picture of how do I know that you should love your enemy? Well, because God is unusually generous.

 Because he's the most generous person I know, and he loves even those who are far away. And if you think you're close, at first you may think that's unfair.

 And you find yourself in this tension of, "I don't know if that's right."

 But he creates this invitation. He says, "No, you need to love your enemy." And I love, and I'm going to get out of order if you're in you version, but I love in Romans chapter ,

 because Jesus had this in mind, it says, "But God shows His love for us that while we were still sinners,

 or while you were still an enemy of God, Christ died for us. Since therefore we've been justified as blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.

 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more." That's even like an accounting term. That's literally this whole idea of like there was a debt and it was paid. Like there was a cost and it was a thing. You were reconciled while you were enemies. And so while Jesus is saying God loves the enemies, the real thing that He's announcing is it's good news for you that God actually loves His enemies, because the truth is all of mankind is an enemy of God. And while you were still a sinner, while you were still an enemy, He sent Jesus Christ to come and to die for you because He loves everybody so much that He's willing to have His Son die, even knowing there's plenty of people who reject Him. And He makes the sun shine on both of them, and He makes it rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.

 But while you were still far away, He loved you. So because He loved you while you were still far away, the invitation is you get to love others while they're still far away. And you get to love your enemies.

 Now I'm going to go ahead and just press into some pretty dangerous ground here about who our enemies are.

 Because in the world that we live in, we love to portray enemies and people we disagree with.

 And listen, in the sports world, it's really easy. All my teams are terrible. You should feel bad for me, church. My soccer team's terrible. My football team's terrible. And now I think I'm going to ruin the Thunder's hole next season just because I decided to like them. So if they're horrible, I'm Jonah. Cast me out the boat and tell me I can't be a fan anymore.

 But when you're a lifelong team member and you cheer for teams, it's okay to have enemies and to root against them because you're on two different teams.

 So I'm a Manchester United fan of soccer. That's right. My best friend. Thank you. That's great. It's sad.

 My best friend, Josh, he's a Chelsea fan. I hate Chelsea so much. The only thing greater than watching my team win is watching their team lose. You see what I'm saying? Like that gives me just as much pleasure, sometimes more. Sometimes it's the only pleasure I get because my team can't win, apparently.

 And so guess what? In that language, in that language, we have two different teams. We have two different sides. We have two different colors.

 My team's red. His team's blue. And we have different sayings and different slogans and I don't like it. And I don't like it. And I don't want good things to happen to his team. I don't want them to sign new players. I don't want their tactics to work. I don't want them to score goals. I don't want them to be anybody because we're on opposite sides. That's where I'm at. When they lose, I will remind him. When they win, my phone doesn't work.

 And in that environment, I can use language like my team and your team.

 I can use language like us, holy ones who follow Man United, and them, the depraved lunatics who are Chelsea fans. And that's totally fine because it's sports. And we have two different teams and we don't want the same thing. We are against each other.

 Now take it a step further. Politics is the same thing. Oh, it's going to get real awkward.

 In the most general sense, we have two teams. They don't like each other. They're against each other. They have different goals in mind. And whatever team you find yourself on, you probably are not cheering for the team. I have a team. I don't cheer for the other team. I don't want the other team to win. I don't want them to do well. I want my team to win. That's why it's a team. And guess what? In that world, there's a lesson to them because I'm on one team. They're on another team.

 But you see, what I'm against is the team. I'm not against the actual people. I mean, it's the team because they want different things. If they win, then I lose. If I lose, then they win. And vice versa. And us and them is fine because you are on two different teams.

 But here's the thing. There's a distinction. When it comes down to the kingdom of God, when it comes down to people, to humans, there is no us and them.

 Because what there are are those who are in Christ and those who are yet to be in Christ. And the difference is, as opposed to saying, I'm in Christ and they're not in Christ.

 And they're against me. No, it's the fact that the exact opposite. The ones who are not in Christ, the ones who are still far away, it is not my mission to root against them. It is actually my mission to go and to help save them. That is the thing that Jesus came to die for.

 And so I don't have us and them when it comes down to human beings. You know why? Because that means that I'm wrestling against humans. And I'm not wrestling against humans. The ones who believe differently to me, the ones who believe whether that's people who are within the faith and they have different moral views or ideas of theology are people who are outside of the faith and they view totally differently than me. Guess what? They are not the enemy that I'm fighting against. I am dealing with someone who has fallen for the very original deception, which is lies.

 Someone who believes lies. Now guess what? I, in my life, have believed lies before. And the result has been being wrong and walking in sin.

 I'm sure at some point in my life, I will believe another lie and the result will be me walking in sin and God, because of his goodness and his graciousness, will lead me to repentance. He will expose truth to me and I will walk in truth and that will be great. That's the result of being in God. But there are people whose eyes have been deceived who are walking around blind and yet sometimes what Christians do is we say it's us and them and I'm against them, the blind person.

 I'm not against the blind person. I'm for the blind person. And my goal is to be just like Jesus did and to bring a light and vision to those who are blind. So I need to be going after the blind because they don't know. Now I am having an enemy and there isn't us and them, but it's not the flesh people who I'm walking around. It's not the people I see who have a different color than me, who support a different political part of me, or who are Chelsea fans. That is not my enemy. Paul makes it really clear. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the powers and the principles of this darkness. They exist and they hate you and they hate those people who don't believe like you, who don't look like you, who don't vote like you. They hate those people too and they will lock people into lies.

 I know it's awkward this morning. It's just going to be awkward, slow claps. That's okay. I'm very confident.

 Here's the thing. Here's the thing.

 When I realize that I'm supposed to love my enemy.

 I'm loving them not because I just want them to be like me.

 I'm loving them because there's something in their life that's not aligning with God's truth.

 And so I get to bring truth to them.

 I get to bring truth to them.

 And here's the real hard part about loving your enemies. Loving your enemies is not a Hallmark movie.

 What I mean by that is it'd be really great if there was that person who they were just that outsider and I was like, oh, but don't worry. I'm going to love them. And I go and I'm really kind to them. And the first time I do it, they reject me and I really get my feelings hurt. But I have perseverance. So I'm going to go back and I'm going to keep showing them love. And then at some point they're going to slowly have this moment and through a really magical montage by the end, we're best friends. And they're like, I'm so thankful that you love me. Even when I was mean to you. And now everything is great.

 Sometimes that happens.

 Sometimes it doesn't.

 Sometimes you offer love and you're rejected.

 And you're hurt and you're wounded.

 And you know what that means?

 Yeah, John, I know that means I brushed the dust off my feet and I called on fire from heaven, right?

 No.

 It means you just keep loving.

 Because there's people who are far away from God.

 And they need His grace just like you need His grace. If you found a child who had been lied to and you know they'd been lied to,

 and they're walking that lie, you don't get mad at the child who's believed the lie. They're a child.

 You may get mad at the person who told him a lie. And then you take all of your time to try to walk them and get them free of that lie. But you don't get mad at the child. In humanity, we walk in this process where we are walking ambassadors of God's love. And we get mad at them. And then we get mad at the person who told us, you're the one who told my identity,

 And so I get to be generous in a way that is mindblowing.

 That I get to partner with the very act that was the greatest generosity and the giving of Christ. And I get to walk out in a way in which guess what? I don't agree with you. I'm not going to change who I am, but I am going to offer unconditional love to you. And even if that is met with violence and even if that is met with destruction, because even that is met with things that make me feel like they are not reciprocating this process. That is not the thing that I get to do. I get to be generous in the way and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm still going to love you. I'm still going to love you." And for some, that overwhelming love and forgiveness and goodness that will slowly turn into the Hallmark story that we all want. And for others, they will still make the choice and the lie is too strong and the things that they're choosing to believe is what it is. And no matter what the subject is that we're talking about, we still get to walk through and bring the love of God.

 And I get to love the person. I don't have to agree with what they are practicing or what they're saying or what they're voting or whether that's not my job.

 But if I begin to believe that humanity is two teams

 and there's the good guys and the bad guys or there's us and them or there's that, then all of a sudden, why would I ever cheer for them to know the truth?

 I never want Chelsea to know the truth.

 But my brother and sister, who look very different than me,

 yeah, I really want them to know the truth.

 And you know what? As much as I want them to know the truth, I still will daily and regularly say, "God, search me.

 Search me and if there's any untruth in me, free me.

 Because I may be wrong somewhere. I know that's hard for you to believe."

 You're like, "How could it be? I don't know.

 But I bet there's somewhere I'm wrong. I bet there's a theological idea I don't have quite right. I bet there's something I didn't do quite right. I bet I ate something in the last  hours I shouldn't that wasn't healthy for my body. But ice cream has a lot of protein if you read the back carefully.

 So I think I can be okay with it."

 You see, one of the greatest acts of generosity is being able to love others even when there's no reward for you. He says, "What reward do you get?"

 Loving someone who loves you, loves you back, that's the reward.

 But everyone does that.

 It's easy to love people who are going to love me back.

 It's harder to love someone who may never love you back.

 That's why some of you are cat people.

 You already get it. You've been loving your enemy for a long time.

 Today we are? No? Okay, cool. Maybe tomorrow.

 If you're a cat person, you're already halfway there.

 We get to love. We get to walk out of this house. This is a generous act that is beyond comprehension. And you cannot do it in the end of yourself. If you say, "I don't know. I really am one of those us and them people. How could I ever love them?"

 In your own strength, you won't be able to.

 You won't.

 It is an impossibility.

 But through the Spirit of God, through the power of what He does inside of you, He gets to allow you to say, "This is the thing I'm going to love you.

 I'm going to love you.

 I'm not going to change my beliefs for you because my beliefs are not based on just what I feel, what I write. My beliefs are based on the Word of God. And so that is the thing that guides me and dictates me in my entire life, in every area of my life, in my political life, in my personal life, in my marriage, in my family, in my resources, in my money, in how I give and how I serve and how my time, that is what dictates my life, is the very Word of God and the leading and the guiding that He gives me. And that is not going to change. But that being said, it doesn't change how I feel about you.

 And I love you.

 And I'll offer love to you. And if you reject it, that's okay.

 And if you want to get into debates and you want to talk about it and you want to have conversations, listen, I'm open to conversations. That's great.

 And I can love you.

 Wait for this. Even if we disagree.

 Gosh is my best friend. I do anything for him. And I hate his soccer team.

 We disagree.

 Still love him.

 I've got friends who vote differently than me.

 And sometimes when I'm just in a logical mood, I think, how can you do that?

 And then I say, but I still love you.

 I still love you deeply.

 We can still love each other and disagree.

 And then there are people who I love who is not reciprocal.

 And it may never be reciprocal.

 I may offer love to them. I may offer the same unconditional mercy and goodness that God offers to me. I may offer out and send that out and they may reject it and despise me and reject me.

 Unfortunately, Jesus and Paul both said, and that is going to happen.

 But that is a result of walking in truth and light and still offering yourself unconditionally and love to others.

 We could insulate ourselves only to surround us with those who believe the same way.

 And then you have a lot less likelihood of being persecuted, rejected, a little betrayed.

 That's not what we're called to do.

 We're called to be light.

 And who would put light on a hill and try to cover it up?

 You are a city on a hill.

 You are the salt of the earth. You are the very thing in which God has called and has partnered with to be his ambassador to new creation. And just like Jesus announced this new creation and went into the wilderness and began to spread the new garden everywhere that he went, he says, and now you carry this garden inside of you, even in the middle of while you're walking in the wilderness and while you're still in the time of exile until that final reuniting time when Jesus returns, you are ambassadors, sovereign ground, everywhere that you go, and you bring that with you. And so when you see someone who's walking in darkness and who doesn't believe in truth, you get to go through and you don't have to worry about, let me make sure you know how wrong you are.

 First, let me make sure you know how loved you are. And then let me just live in truth to you.

 In all of the miracles that Jesus did, I have yet to find one where before he did it, he went through and told them all of the things that they were morally and theologically incorrect about. And then he said, "Now that I straighten that out, you can see, or you can walk, or you can talk."

 But you know what I did say? I told him it was the opposite way. I call him "feel someone" and then say, "Go and send a moron."

 I saw that because it's his kindness that leads us to repentance.

 His truth is unchanging.

 So is his love. His mercy is unending and his grace is overabounding. And the sacrifice of Jesus is complete and full. And in him, we get to find so many things. And so you know what? I'm going to love my enemies.

 I'm not going to put them on a different team.

 In sports, go for it.

 In politics, fine.

 But never forget, every person who votes in politics is also a human being. And at some point, you've got to put your jersey down and realize they're human. And that person you're for.

 When we step into the political arena, we don't have to agree.

 That's fine.

 But when we realize we're also in this humanity,

 and God's calling you to reach people, what a privilege.

 What an act of generosity.

 It may be the most challenging act of generosity for any of us to walk through.

 I'll close with the scripture. When we've read most of the weeks we've been here together.  Corinthians , verse , God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

 As it is written, he is distributed freely and is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. So he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

 So you will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. Stand with me, church.

 Father God, you are so good.

 Your generous heart is so evident.

 Your words and your truth are the things that we long and desire to live and to guide our lives by.

 Lord, help us live like Jesus.

 Help us to love those who are our enemies,

 who have believed lies, who have walked in untruths.

 Just like we once were walking in darkness,

 Jesus found us. Help us partner with you in your spirit.

 To love well.

 To be generous with the love we've received.

 And knowing we may never get it back in the measure that we've given it out, what we've received from you will always superexceed anything we could ever give.

 And we pour it out today.

 Help us see your sons and daughters for who they are.

 To be able to walk in the calling and the purpose that you have for us.

 In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen and amen.

 Amen. Well, listen, church, we love you so much. Super thankful. Love being here together. Next week I am like  out of  excited because we're starting a new series. We're going to be talking about prayer. And man, it is going to be a lot of fun. I cannot wait for it. So we'll see you next week. Have a great rest of your Sunday. You are dismissed.