Sermon Cloud

            Anyone here have a Capital One Credit Card?  Erin and I do, we use it for just about everything.  But we keep track of what we spend and pay it off at the end of each month.  We’ve never paid them a penny of interest.  But maybe we should.  All of us owe Capital One a lot.  Some of us more than others.  But whether or not you have a Capital One card, you at least owe them a huge debt of gratitude.  We should thank them for their selfless investment in our society. 

            First of all, out of their generous hearts, they offer us airline miles and reward points.  Did you ever wonder where they get the extra money to give you ipods or airline tickets?  They’ve also given us those hilarious commercials with David Spade.  “No!”  Remember the one where the whimpy guy, the one that keeps saying ‘yes’ had these electrical shocker thing to keep him from saying yes.  But then someone spilled their drink on him, sparks started flying and his chest hair lit on fire.  Good stuff.

            Capital One sponsors college football on ABC and what would life be without College Football.  And they’re responsible for the Capital One Bowl, played on New Years Day.  Which two years ago had the greatest ever ending to a college bowl game.  When Iowa’s Drew Tate threw a sixty yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game.

            But now these generous people at Capital One have taken it upon themselves to start educating our kids.  Training our kids on how to manage their money.

            They’ve got the money to do it.  You may remember a stat I shared a couple weeks ago.  Last year, Americans spent $80 billion on credit card interest.  Incidentally, that’s 4 times the amount of money that some experts believe we’d need to wipe poverty from our world.  Capital One is one of the biggest credit card companies, so they’ve got a good share of that 80 billion.

            Well they decided to invest a few million into some really nice semi trailers that they pull all across the country.  Capital One “buys” permission to take these trailers to school, museums, any place there will be a lot of kids.  Capital One promotes these trailers as rolling classrooms. 

            Inside the trailer, kids are taken through four life stages.  Capital One teaches, or indoctrinates, kids as to how they’ll manage their money during these 4 stages of their adult life.  Capital One teaches kids that when they get into college and when they’re trying to make it after college, that they’ll no choice but use credit cards.  The only way to get ahead in your early 20’s is to rack up credit card debt. 

            In 2004, Citi Bank spent $100 million marketing their credit cards to high school and college students. 

            Your kids are going to learn financial principles from somewhere.  Credit card companies would love to teach your kids to spend more than they make.  I mean, how are they going to be able to keep giving away ipods. 

            But even if your kids take a class at school that teaches them how to manage money and live within their means, no one is going to teach your kids to give away their hard earned money. 

            And that’s the journey we’re on as a church.  To become people who intentionally spend less and less and less on ourselves so we can give away more and more and more.  Parents, the way you’re spending your money is impacting the way your kids will spend their money.  Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to teach your kids to be generous people?

            Generosity doesn’t come naturally.  Being “others – centered” is not in our genes.  A couple months ago, my wife Erin was teaching the Jr. Church class.  And Turner Theel walked in with some money.  He handed 65 cents to Erin and said, “this is for the offering.”  They didn’t pass an offering plate that day, so Erin just set the money next to her lesson plan and she was going to give it to the ushers after church. But at the end of Jr. Church she noticed that the money was no longer there.  And Turner was walking around the classroom, with a big smile on his face while jingling some change in his pocket. 

            So Erin asked him, “Turner, what are you supposed to do with that money?”  Turner answered, “it’s my money.” 

            And then Travis came down the hall after worship to pick up Turner, noticed he still had the money and asked why he still had it.  Turner’s response, “It’s mine!”

            They went home and Travis told Turner he wasn’t getting anymore money until he put that 65 cents in the offering.  Turner’s response, he yelled “fine!”, threw the change on the floor and defiantly marched up to his room. 

            Now that’s funny and cute.  But what’s not so funny and cute is that we do the same thing.  Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with so many resources, but rather than being generous, we’ve hoarded what we’ve been given.  And not only are we robbing ourselves of the blessing of a generous life, but we’re hurting our kids, too. 

            Your kids won’t naturally learn generosity.  It has to be taught.  But so much more important, necessary even, is that it must be modeled.  Are you doing it?  Do your kids look at you and see someone living a life of generosity?

            Generosity is modeled for us in the biblical story of Abraham.  Abraham’s generosity left a bit of a legacy you could say.  We’re going to walk with Abraham as he builds that legacy. 

            It all starts with God’s promise.  Genesis 12:1-9 (male)  God starts speaking to Abram and promises wonderful things.  vs 2.  From Abram’s perspective, there were a couple holes in this promise God was making.  First of all, Abram was 75 and childless.  His wife was 65 and she had yet to get pregnant.  Who in their right mind would believe that she’d suddenly start producing kids?  Pretty hard to be the father of a great nation if you can’t even be the father of one.

            As we’ve been going through this series, some of you have been really struggling with God.  How can I be sure?  How can I know for sure that the satisfaction from giving away my money is going to be more fulfilling than the satisfaction of a new TV?  Or how can I be sure that if I take God up on his command to give away the first 10% of what I make that he really will meet my needs?  Was Jesus’ promise that if we invest first in the Kingdom of God that our heavenly father really will supply all our needs?  What if I’m the exception? 

            We’ll read later that because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous.  Can you take that step of faith?

            The other thing Abram had going against him was that he was already wealthy.  Vs. 5  One of the biggest obstacles keeping us from becoming generous people is our own affluence.  We don’t want to alter our lifestyle and we don’t want to give up the American dream of having everything we want. 

            We’re like Turner Theel, holding our 65 cents not understanding that our Father is ready to give us so much more if we’d just trust him.  Being generous doesn’t mean that if give away $1, you’ll get $2 in return.  Sometimes it works that way, but not always.  But what you can count on is that giving away that $1 means that God will bless you in a way that never could’ve happened had you chosen to spend that $1 on yourself.  God’s blessings on a generous life are beyond financial and they’re never ending.  You can’t out give God. 

            Abram trusts God; he leaves what’s familiar and starts following God.  This ‘promise’ must’ve seemed unending to Abram.  God keeps showing up and promising him stuff, but nothing ever changed.  Genesis 15:1-6 (male)

            In chapter 17, their names are changed and they’re promised again.  Eventually, Sarah felt like God was taunting her Genesis 18:10-14 (read by female).  

            But finally, God’s promise to be generous to Abraham and Sarah becomes a reality.  Genesis 21:1-7 (vs 1-5 read by male, 6-7 read by female).

            Can you imagine the gratitude and excitement Abraham and Sarah would’ve felt?  The peace and fulfillment they would’ve been experiencing as they watched Isaac grow. 

            But little did they know what God was about to ask of them.  Listen to this.  Genesis 22:1-2 (male)  Parents, those two verses likely send chills down your spine. 

            Abraham knew that even his son was a gift from God.  He had no illusions of entitlement.  When God asked for the life of Isaac, Abraham was willing to give to God what was really his to begin with.

            He took Isaac to the top of the mountain, strapped him down on a makeshift altar.  Abraham brought the knife back behind his head, ready to plunge it into his son’s body but at the last minute, the voice of God intervened.  “Abraham, stop!”  Genesis 22:12-14 (male). 

            Abraham never stopped believing that God would provide.  He knew that if God asked him to sacrifice his only son then God must have something even better for him.  There was likely no way he could imagine anything better than the life of his son, but God asked and so Abraham responded with obedience.

            I had a conversation once with a friend of mine.  Trust me, this family doesn’t attend our church.  We were talking about tithing and he told me the reason his family couldn’t give a full tithe to their church was because they had so many other family obligations.  “Our budget is tight, I’m choosing between tithing and putting my boy in little league.  I’ve gotta go with my fatherly responsibility.” 

            Parents, your first financial responsibility to your kids is to model for them a life of putting God first in your finances.  There is no little league baseball game, no trip to Disney World, no video game or doll house that could ever take the place of the gift of obedience.  I say this not as a parent, but as a child, living in the legacy of parents who gave generously out of the little bit that they had.    

            Dad’s testimony

            Can you imagine what was going through Isaac’s mind?  “What’s dad gonna’ do?  Is he really gonna be obedient?”

            Every time you get your paycheck you’re faced with a choice.  You’ve got bills due.  Christmas is coming.   What are you going to do?  Are you going to be obedient?  Are you going to honor God?  And the consequences of that choice extend beyond the next paycheck.  It extends to that time in the future when your kid is going to be getting a paycheck and making financial decisions.  Your choice will impact the time in which your grandkids are getting a paycheck, making financial decisions.  What legacy are you leaving? 

            Abraham was faced with a terrible choice but he chose obedience.  And right then his legacy was born.  Genesis 22:16-18 (male). 

            Verse 18 is an echo of the first time God appeared to Abram and promised him a son.  Back in chapter 12, the 3^rd verse.  Abraham knew right then that should God really choose to give him a son, that generosity wasn’t something to be kept for himself.  But that God blessed him so that he could turn and bless others. 

            Had Abraham disobeyed God, we wouldn’t be reading about him this morning.  He wouldn’t just faded away into obscurity.  As a result of Abraham’s faith, God blessed Isaac.  Isaac’s descendants became the nation of Israel.  The people of God who were a living testimony to of God’s love and faithfulness to the rest of the world.

            And Jesus Christ was a descendant of Isaac.  And in the cross of Jesus Christ, we see the ultimate act of God’s generosity.  God rescued Abraham’s son from the death, but in order to pay for our sin, God allowed his own son to die. 

            Abraham was generous and as a result, we are blessed.  Do you see the legacy?  You can trace it. 

            What about you?  Are you willing to respond to God’s generosity?  Are leaving a legacy of generosity for those following behind. 

            prayer