Awestruck

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love. A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family. So welcome home. Alright, hey everybody.

Holiday Traditions and Light

I love our kids. Everybody excited about the holidays? I was reflecting on this in the coffee shop the other day when I was getting some work done and reading. I love and I appreciate how the American culture responds to the cold. Mid-fall, we turn almost stupefied at the thought of winter coming. We really do. So we begin to decorate and we begin to play different types of music and we begin to start wearing bright, white, thick, fluffy turtleneck sweaters and wearing these ugly boots everywhere. It is what it is. It's how we celebrate. The season is changing, and we're super excited about it because we're in South Carolina, and we're ready for the muggy, hot, humid weather to go away.

But we know, and we love it. It's our tradition as an American culture. People in my neighborhood already have these lights up on their homes before Thanksgiving, right? And I was reflecting on it last year, and it's getting darker and darker and darker outside. Have you noticed that? When I was a kid, I never noticed it. You go to work, come out, it's 5 o'clock, black, dark. It's darker and darker and darker. There's less daylight out. And our response? Fine, we're going to put up lights. It's brilliant. I love it. There will always be light is the message that we love as a culture. We have LED lights on our house.

That changed color. It's beautiful. It's our family tradition every year. Ours change color. They do blue and white. Which is great, Hanukkah, yeah, blue and white. It's great until you pull in the neighborhood and I got the extra bright ones and it looks like the cops have showed up to a crime scene in the middle of the night. I'm proud of this. But I really do love this time of year in American culture and I'm thankful for it. I really am.

The Lifestyle of a Believer

And so that aside, today we're going to talk about the lifestyle of a believer. It's so easy to look like a believer, right? I feel like it's pretty easy to pass yourself off as a believer. Slap a sticker on your car, check, I got one. Post Bible verse memes on Facebook, check, I do that. Show your zeal, overwhelming zeal for Chick-fil-A, whenever at all possible. It's easy, but what's not easy actually is living a life of self-sacrificial love that Yeshua taught us to live, right? Sometimes that's difficult. The practices of Christianity are so tough sometimes, but they're always edifying when we push through and we actually bear that weight. This is how we show the world what the kingdom of God actually looks like. It's by following the one who poured out the love of God through self-sacrifice.

Generosity, Gratitude, and the Book of Chronicles

So today, in light of the holidays, mainly Thanksgiving, I felt it was appropriate to take a look at the topics of generosity and gratitude and what that looks like, at least in a biblical example. And so we're going to turn to a book of the Bible that you likely have not spent too much time in, and that would be the first Chronicles, the books of Chronicles, right? We're a people that love to crack open numbers in Leviticus, but when it comes to Chronicles, well, it's... And as a book, Chronicles is amazing because Chronicles speaks of the first kings of Israel. And 1 Chronicles covers Saul and David mainly.

It's similar to the books of Samuel and Kings. The difference is interesting though if you compare Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, specifically Samuel and Chronicles. Because Samuel tends to portray a rather raw view of David and David's life. You turn the pages and you're reading about David and you're like, man, how is this cat the guy after God's own heart? Like this guy. It really emphasizes his failures, his sin when he falls the hardest. Now, what's interesting about Chronicles, if you read through about David, Chronicles takes David down and polishes him up. Makes him look like a pretty swell looking guy.

The story of Bathsheba—that whole thing of adultery and murder and the child and all. Not in Chronicles. No sir. We want to clean David up. You don't have a choice. What's interesting is the consensus that Chronicles was written after the Babylonian exile because at the end of 2 Chronicles it talks about Persia. Samuel is believed to have been crafted before or some would suggest during, most likely before the exile. And if that's true, then we have intentionality. We have something very interesting. We have one story that's being read while Israel is in exile, speaking about a king that acts a certain way that leads to a people emulating him and ending up apart from God.

But then after they leave Babylon, they're starting anew. This new chronicle comes forth, showing a different character of this king, showing a king that is righteous. Showing a king that is moving forward progressively into righteousness. Not emphasizing necessarily his failures, but what we're supposed to emulate moving forward as an example. It's kind of a before and after. It's very interesting. That's a neat opinion that I've come to really enjoy. The intentionality of Samuel Kings, which is probably written during the exile and then Chronicles.

From Egypt to the Promised Land

Nerdy stuff aside, the background here in 1 Chronicles 29 is, of course, Israel has come out of Egypt. They've been redeemed by the power of God's salvation. They've entered into the land, but it's been a little rough for them. The tribes were always fighting. Benjamin almost got wiped off the map completely. There was almost not a tribe of Benjamin. Remember that awkward story near the end of Judges? I know who's read it. It's just, yeah, that's why we don't read that book to our toddlers. And they were constantly watching their borders and preparing, just attacking and warring with other nations.

And then a king arrived, King David and his son King Solomon. They rise up and they become the first kings that truly unite all of the tribes together in the monarchy. They're the ones who were at the pinnacle of Israel's success when they broadened out and they've taken over their land. And they finally established secure borders and they find themselves in peace. And until this point, God's presence had followed them from the wilderness and it was revealed in the form and a structure of a tent. It was a tent. It was a beautiful tent called the tabernacle. It was beautiful, had gold and silver. And in Shiloh, which it sat for about 400 years or so, they actually built permanent walls and laid the tent covering over it to kind of give it a more permanent state, even though it was temporary.

But here, at the end of 1 Chronicles, David is getting old, and he's about to die at the very end. And in the last years of his life, David has this desire to build something grander for God. He wants to build God a house, not a tent. He wants to build him a temple, a palace, if you will. And they had set up Jerusalem as the capital of the tribal kingdom. And so he wants to make the dwelling place of God's presence permanent there, once and for all. That's David's heart later in his life. His heart is to see a place where God's people can meet with God in this permanent structure called the temple.

So David gathers together and he orchestrates everything that needs to happen and he gathers all the materials to build the temple, or at least pass the job off to his son, as we'll see. And it's at this moment in history that something remarkable happens and comes forth from David's heart, as well as the people.

Into the Scriptures

So enough building it up. Let's dive into the scriptures. 1 Chronicles 29. So you can turn with me there in your Bibles. And we will start right in verse 1. The iron for the things of iron. The wood for the things of wood. Besides great quantities of onyx stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. Moreover, here we go, verse 3. Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver. And because of my devotion to the house of my God, I give it to the house of my God. 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of 04, very refined.

And 7,000 talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the house. Because that's what you would do. There's no brick, no silver of everything. That's potent. That's potent. And we glaze over all the numbers because it's such a magnificent thing to try to make relatable in our lives. So we see David preparing and organizing and managing this huge project with all of this stuff. And then he makes this huge personal contribution. Not just what he could spare. Not simply what he could spare. No, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of paths. So 3,000 talents of gold, 7,000 talents of silver.

So I did a quick search in talents, and we always think of talents as maybe being a little coin or something, right? Literally it'd be a coin or something. No, a talent, some scholars were saying, was about a 12 by 12 inch square foot of water, what that volume was in gold or silver. One historian stated it was likely about 75 pounds of gold or silver per talent. Another historian said, "Oh, it's about the weight of a human being, 110 pounds." Can you imagine now? So instead of thinking 3,000 little coins, 3,000 talents of gold and silver, 10,000 total. I love that, and it's huge. It's huge. That's the thing.

And this was a huge deal. And some of us may minimize the action. The first time I read that, I just minimized it. David was a king. He was rich. I mean, if I was rich, I'd give too, right? And that's the thing. I don't care how rich you are. 10,000 talents. You could build a building. 10,000 talents of precious metals would not go unnoticed in his treasury. And I've never even seen a bar of silver. Like, this huge, emphasized move of David's heart. It was a big move, and it cost him something. That's the point it's trying to emphasize.

The Magnitude of David's Gift

And then look what happens next in verse 5 here. Look at that, verse 5. And for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold, silver for the things of silver, who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the Lord? You guys know derricks of gold. 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, 100,000 talents of iron. And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king rejoiced greatly.

So I hope you're taking the time to try to imagine this scene. Just being there. Imagine the emotion that is in the atmosphere. It's powerful. It's powerful. And this is like the final act of David's life. He's about to go. And he's going to die very soon. A few paragraphs. And after his journey, after all of his ups and his downs, fighting and running and fighting and becoming king and ruling and reigning and the drama in Kings and Samuel with his own sons, all of this reaches its height where his heart has matured to the point where he now seeks to see that a beautiful place was established where God's people can meet with the presence of God.

And his example as a leader didn't stop with him. It inspired this magnificent display of generosity among the people and the tribal leaders. And look, David doesn't even twist their arm. Now, you can imagine if you needed a big project to fundraise for—I mean, you could pull out all the stops, make it like you need to give to the house. He just does it. And he says, who else will willingly give today? And it turns into a party. It's amazing to me because I cannot imagine a fundraiser where I'm asked to give a bunch of money turning into a festive time where everyone's like, yeah, yeah. It's remarkable.

What Motivates Generosity

And the chapter continues. And the real beauty is about to come forth. So everybody still with me? We're good? I know we just ran. We're good. What I want to focus on—what would motivate someone in their core? What would actually motivate them? So before the moment someone gives, before the moment someone writes a check or whatever, before that moment, that's what I want to focus on today. What would motivate David to say, no, I want to participate personally. I want to give the sacrificial amount of my personal treasury. And there's a prayer here that follows this story that David prays that really highlights his motivation.

We had to read all that to get here. And I know some of us would think, because again, I'm a human too and I read this story, and if I was a hotshot king that was super rich, of course, I'd give 10,000 talents of gold and silver as well, right? Can anyone admit, if I was richer, I'd give more? Yeah, I would totally do that. And I have to reflect and stop myself from blinding myself from my own heart. That's what I want to address because is that really true? Is it really true that you would be more generous in general across your life with every opportunity if you just had more? Because, to be honest, if I'm someone that won't give $10 generously, why would I ever think that I would give $10 million?

Generosity and Christian Character

And this is the practice within the Christian character in general, generosity and gratitude. As followers of Yeshua and the examples that he left us to follow, giving of yourself in extreme ways to others, offering forgiveness to your enemies, not retaliating, choosing not to perpetuate violence even though they're justified, choosing to stand as the buffer and the stopping point for violent behavior that could be traveling and repeating itself through generations, choosing to say, no, I will not be a repeater of this. Extreme acts of mercy and grace. These opportunities do not happen every day for most of us. Most of us, we don't go outside and be like, all right, here's my list of enemies I got to forgive. No, they're rare opportunities that typically come out of nowhere that fall into our laps where we have an opportunity to actually emulate the one that we say we follow.

Daily Practices of Generosity

And so what does it look like? What practices do we have in place in our own lives, the small practices that we do every single day to help prepare us not to be blindsided by significant events of generosity like these? How do we become the kind of people here that when an opportunity of generosity comes, we simply respond like second nature? It's not even a task. We just do it. It's a joy that we've been anticipating, and it's what we do because it's who we are. How do we become that kind of person? That's the kind of person I want to be. I mean, I'll be honest. That's the kind of person I want to be. So again, David has undergone this heart transformation in his life from his youth. And it's definitely a transformation I'm sure I need to continually work towards in my own heart. And I'm sure some of you as well. But we're going to read this prayer. And I wanted to prepare you. I think it will become clear what the depth of that thing is in his prayer in verse 10.

David's Prayer of Acknowledgment

Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly, and David said, "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name." So David says it a few different ways here.

From King David's point of view, to whom does everything in the entire world belong? Yahweh, the God of Israel. And it's pretty simple. All of us likely believe it. I know it. But do we actually live that out? It's an easy thing to know. Yeah, everything's God's. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to God. Do we actually live that out? Because here, David says his own riches and his own honor belong to God. They're God's. They're God's possession. They are not his own. So all of that anxiety that he had to work through, through his teen years, childhood, adult, the work, the stress, the endurance that David put into his career in becoming and maintaining his kingship, he acknowledges, no, it's not mine.

Like, nothing that came from that was really because of me. It's a gift. It's a gift from God. So easy to say. So easy to say, but what does it look like when our heart believes it and lives that out? That these things, everything in heaven and earth is God's. And he gets emotional here. Look at this. He gets emotional in verse 14. This is my favorite. So humbling. Have it down there. But who am I and what is my people? This is the uncomfortable verse for me. Who am I? And what is my people? That we would even have the opportunity to give, to make an offering generously to you, O God. The sheer humility.

David here sees this as an undeserving honor to be able to give an offering to God. King David views himself as being able to give to God as an undeserving honor. Who am I that you would let me handle your stuff and give it back to you as if it's a loan? Who am I? Like, seriously, and it's not just a poetic thought. Like he said, verse 16. Where is it? Verse 16. Oh, Lord, our God, all of this abundance that we have provided for building your house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. It says—it's his prayer for anyone who says they follow God.

God, make sure that you keep forever such purposes and thoughts as this in the hearts of those who follow you. I know, my God, that you test the heart, that you have pleasure in uprightness. Jesus. David equates the uprightness of the heart that is tested by God with the handling and graciousness, the sheer gratitude of being able to handle the things that belong to God. Man, and he says this. He says, who am I? Now, what's funny—who am I that you have allowed me, King David, to handle your stuff in this manner? And I'm over here wondering, like, if King David acknowledges his lowly status in the face of the living God, who is he?

King David, this 2,000, 3,000-year-old king. This king that was in this little itty-bitty monarchy, this little kingdom in the Middle East, ancient Israel, whom we know, everybody knows King David now. And he's the one saying, who am I? So, guys, Bill Clinton, George Bush, President Barack Obama, President Trump, none of them will be remembered 3,000 years from now. No one's going to have a clue. Let me go back to the list of presidents in America. Whatever— yeah, there's one. Who wonders what he was like? No one has... King David, we still know. And he's the one saying, "I'm not even worthy to offer your things back to you, God.

Who am I?" "Oh, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, keep forever your purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people." David is so moved at this scene—not only his own experience and generosity, but the move of the hearts of the people, totally, totally becoming overwhelmed with humility and joy, participating in giving to God's house. And here's the prayer to his son. After this experience that he's seeing—this overwhelming emotional experience—here's what King David says to pray for his son. Verse 19. Look at the connection here. He wants God to give his son a whole heart to keep the commandments, the testimonies, and the statutes.

And we might define those three things in our own minds. We might have a list like, "Yeah, that means this, this, this." But what has this entire chapter been about until this point? The heart of David and his people concerning gratitude and generosity. Keep this. Oh, and give it to my son. And then he goes on to make a connection between a life and a heart of keeping God's commandments and statutes and a life and a heart filled with honor and generosity.

Called to Be Mentors of Generosity

As a people of God, those who follow the God of Israel, we are called to be mentors of generosity to the world. That's a charge that's given to us as believers. And what type of practices would that take? What type of changes would I need to make to my life to reflect the essence of this biblical prayer?

I don't know. That could be very different for different people depending on where they're at in their lives. This prayer that David prays—that the people of God from this time would continue to keep a heart focused on joy and gratitude and radical generosity—that it would overwhelm their heart, so it would beat, it would beat in their life. What do we need to do to get to a place where this is a lifestyle? A lifestyle that David can only describe as keeping the commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes. Everything you have in your life—your time, your talents, your energy, your skill, your strength, your wisdom, your intellect, your money, your college degree, whatever, your furniture, your house.

What would it take to actually live a life that reflects that you are honored today? You are awestruck that God would allow you to use his stuff. And what it should do is cultivate a new way of feeling gratitude towards God. It's the moment when you realize you can't feel entitled to something and grateful for it. You cannot feel entitled to something in your life and show gratitude for it. So you choose. You choose. Like David, to humble yourself in a new way, to embrace and show gratitude towards God through how you live. David realizes everything he has—everything he has been given. And that's the door that unleashes this humble, joyful, gracious, generous heart that begins overflowing from his soul onto the soul of the people.

That's the key. The level at which I view all my things as things that I have received is the level at which I give back and am generous to the world. That capacity— my viewing my things as given to me—is my capacity for generosity.

Being Generous is Radical

In this example, it's amazing and it's beautiful when you realize that it's more than just a guy bragging about how much he gave. It's amazing, but it's also a little bit intimidating, if I can be honest. It's a bit intimidating, isn't it? So the same culture that I love for making the darkest time of the year one of joy is the same culture that teaches me that I have what I have because I got it myself. I worked hard. I did this. Mine. This is because I. It's intimidating to buck that kingdom for another kingdom that says the opposite. It's hard. It's hard because being generous in this world is radical.

It's radical. It's odd. It's strange. We make television shows based around someone being generous. That's how much of a spectacle it is. We make television shows about people getting free renovations to their homes or getting bigger houses that they're in need of. And that's our entertainment because we're like, wow, look at that kind of world. And what's so funny is that's the world that we as believers are called to create and expand based on the example that was given to us. We are numbered, and that's why it's intimidating. And the killer, the killer is if you don't recognize that all you have was given to you, you can never show gratitude to God for it.

That's the killer of the whole. The Torah tells us that. The story of the Torah shows a people that were given freedom, given water, given food, and never acknowledged God in giving it. They were ungrateful. I love that. When we go from simply viewing the Torah as just a bunch of commandments and actually look at it as a narrative and a story that's trying to teach us something above that, we see these patterns, and it's amazing.

They Tasted Redemption

So here we go. It's a perfect Exodus 14, down there, 1411. So this is chapter 14. This is after the plagues. This is after the whole Passover event. They even looted the Egyptians. So they're wearing some Rolexes that didn't belong to them a day ago when they're starting to complain. That's what is taking place here, okay? They tasted redemption from slavery. If they were to die right now, they wouldn't have died as slaves. They would have died as free people. Now Pharaoh is chasing after them after they left. And they complain. Dino, right? They complained after the shackles were removed from their old life.

What happens next? God splits the Red Sea, which is pretty cool, right? Exit through the waters out of Egypt. This is where I believe the Christian tradition comes from for motivating baptism —going through the waters, leaving the shackles behind. And the second greater exodus through Yeshua. And then after they cross the Red Sea, what happens? Here we go. Exodus 15, 22. "Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Moriah, they could not drink the water of Moriah because it was bitter.

Therefore, it was named Moriah, just Ephra. And the people grumbled against Moses saying, What shall we drink now?" Do you know why they complained? Do you know why they complained at this point? Because they had no real desire for redemption. That's what I see. It seems that they left Egypt reluctantly, as if they were doing Moses a favor.

Do we ever complain? Do we ever complain as if we left Egypt reluctantly, as if only to do Yeshua a favor? And because we did him a favor, we're entitled to certain... That's too much.

Over and Over Again

Without desire for something, there will never be dedicational self-sacrifice. That's the story here. So what does Moses do? He sweetens the waters of Moriah, and the children of Israel continue their journey to the wilderness of Sin. And guess what happened there? Exodus 16, 1. "They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt. This wasn't even like a long time. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'" At this point in the story, Israel is willing to forfeit their redemption to fill their stomachs. This attitude continues through the wilderness. We know the story. It's a repeat. It's a record going over and over and over again. This attitude of entitlement, which always forfeits gratitude. And the last straw that finally came in the wilderness was when?

Numbers chapter 14. The spies went out and returned with the bad report. Man, there are some big people over there. The ten spies—big people over there. It's hard. We're going to have to have a little faith when we go in there. So they heard this report. Genesis 14, verse 1. "Then all the congregation raised a loud voice. They said to one another, 'Hey, let's just choose another leader, start up a new faction, and head back to Egypt. We don't like this leader. Let's just go choose another one and start our own thing.'" I love it. Gosh, after God had carried them this far. And how does God respond? In verse 14: "And the Lord said to Moses, 'How long will this people despise me?

How long will this people that I've given everything to despise me? How long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I've done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them. And I'll make a nation greater and mightier than they. Through you, Moses. Through you.'"

Beep. Start over. This is how God responds to ingratitude in the story of Torah. This is how he responds to ingratitude. How about the ingratitude of Adam? You know the story, right? Adam and Eve, and they're given everything, right? And they got this tree over here, and he says, listen. "Do not take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do not take that." If you don't know the story, they eat it. God comes down. They're naked. And he's like, "What's happening with you guys? Why are you acting so weird?"

Adam's Blame and Our Entitlement

And why are you acting like that? Who told you? Did you eat of the fruit? So here's what Adam says. This is classic Adam. The man said, "The woman whom you gave to me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate." Adam could have just said, "She did it." He could have just said, "She gave it to me and I ate it." But instead, by saying "The woman that you gave to me"—Adam just blamed God for this happening. Adam just blamed God for the fall of mankind. What an ungrateful—goodness, man. Johnny throws a football through the window. Johnny, what are you doing? You broke this window. You gave me the football. But seriously, the moment we feel entitled, the moment we say this is mine and I deserve it, the moment we lose sight of the very fact that God has given us everything and we have it for a specific purpose—we have it for a specific fulfilling destiny in our lives. The moment that becomes a thing we say to God is the moment we lose it all and we become Adam. We become Israel. We become mortals destined for death.

The Glory We Exchange

Paul, speaking of sinful humanity, he says this in Romans chapter 1: "For since creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse." And exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles and TVs and cars and a paycheck and a college degree and status at your workplace—and the unwillingness to be awestruck at everything God has given to you, giving him glory, and the unwillingness to show gratitude leads to a heart turning foolish.

This is why King David prayed that your hearts would be forever filled with the understanding that God has allowed you to participate in his creation. He has equipped you with the things in your life for a purpose, a good reason to bring forth blessing—not darkness, not selfishness, but a heart that glorifies him. Not just being content, but embracing God's rule in and through the way that you live. That's the prayer of David.

A People Called to Generosity

You have the story of the Bible following a people who constantly showed ingratitude. And after the exile, an account is written of a king. The king we learn to emulate. The king that God will use once again to establish his kingdom. This King David. We have a king that is in awe of God's gifts. Who am I? Who am I that I should even be able to give something of God's? So this Thanksgiving, it's appropriate to meditate on that. It's appropriate to reflect, and it's appropriate to put into place active generosity wherever you can. Train your mind and train your heart to be like the people of God spoken of in 1 Chronicles 29. It's amazing, this example. It's also intimidating, very much so. But that's what we're called to do. That's exactly who we're called to be as believers and followers of this Messiah.

Christ's Poverty and Our Riches

Matt, why would you say that? Well, this is how Paul actually describes the one that we call Yeshua, that we're called to emulate, our king. Here we go: "For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich." Did you get it? "For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." This is the message of the gospel, the gospel we are called to be ambassadors of. Give, give, and show the world what the generosity of God looks like when it's lived out. Show hospitality, show grace, show mercy, be generous. Give, give, give.

Training Your Heart for God's Abundance

Paul drives this point home in 2 Corinthians, and we've read this verse a million times, especially when the offering plate's about to be passed around. And that's actually the context of the verse—Paul is asking for money. But I want you to notice something you may have never seen before when he speaks about this. Look at the total scope of what Paul is getting at. It's in 2 Corinthians 9:6. I think he was thinking of the people of God in 1 Chronicles 29 when he said this. The joy was just overwhelming. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you. Psalm 112. Verse 11 gets me excited because he's driving it home.

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." Right? So you act selflessly. And he's saying through your acts of gratitude and giving, Paul says God will begin to use you for bigger things. Why? Because you're allowing your heart to be molded to something like David said it should be. When you begin to train for something bigger. At some point, it's time to upgrade, time to go to the second level, time to increase the weight. And what God's saying is—listen—what Paul's saying is, if you begin to train your heart and your mind to be generous and gracious in all aspects of your life and showing it as an example to the world, then God will continue fueling you with his stuff forever.

So that you can continue showing the world what the hospitality of God looks like. And the mercy of God looks like. And the generosity of which you were saved looks like. That's potent. How you doing? You're good? We're good. Dare to give would be the challenge. Dare to be generous. Dare to take up your calling to be a mentor of generosity to the world.

The Kingdom Filled with Generosity

When Yeshua speaks of not worrying about the clothes on your back and what you will eat, like —it sounds like something a hippie would say. It really does. No, he's imagining a world filled with people that were collectively overwhelmingly generous so that no one would want for anything. Because that's what the kingdom of God would look like when it engulfs the world. He's imagining a world filled with people that would actually do and reflect the image of Yeshua's generosity. And that world starts with those who call themselves believers. If the world is going to be transformed by Yeshua, then the remolding of it will take place using his hands and his feet. That's you in whom he lives through.

A Nerdy Connection in 1 Chronicles

You know, I had to wait to the end because there's a really neat, nerdy connection in 1 Chronicles 29, and I didn't feel like there was an appropriate spot to interject it. And it goes back to David's prayer here in verse 10. I'm going to pull it back up because I want to show you this. Well, cat's out of the bag now. "Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly, and David said, Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our Father forever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heavens and earth is yours."

And so you see, I highlighted a King James Version of a part of the Lord's Prayer. Many of us probably were raised saying this at the end of the Lord's Prayer, right? "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen." It mirrors it. So in many modern Bibles, this addition that I underlined in Matthew won't be prevalent. And in Catholic tradition, they reject it as well. It's not in most modern Bibles. It's really only in older Bibles or the King James Version. And the reason is because there are earlier manuscripts that do not have this addition added onto the end of the verse. So sometime around the 4th century, we know that it became a Christian tradition to say this line at the end of the Lord's Prayer.

We have since the King James Version found earlier manuscripts that show that before the 4th century, this doesn't appear. So that's why your NIV and ESV and all your modern translations remove that verse. They're not doing anything damaging. They're not trying to rip it out of your Bibles. It's just there's evidence that earlier manuscripts, this didn't show up. The ASV, I think, removes it as well.

Two Traditions of Prayer

And so if you remember, in Luke's prayer, in Luke's account, the Lord's Prayer is a response from Yeshua at the request of his disciples asking how to pray. In Matthew, that tradition is a little bit different. It's part of the Sermon on the Mount. And so there's a big debate on whether this edition should be included or not. Specifically, KJV-only folks who appreciate that tradition, and folks who appreciate newly discovered earlier manuscripts, which is the side I tend to fall on. But I find it beautiful that at some point, the community of followers of Yeshua found this interesting. And they found a link.

They realized that it was powerful to link the Lord's Prayer here to the prayer of David because it mirrors it. It reflects it. "Thine is the kingdom, power and glory" mirrors David's prayer when he prays that God would give his people the hearts of generosity and sacrifice to establish the temple, to cultivate a place where God's presence is revealed on earth. It means early believers understood that David's prayer was about giving to a place where God's presence would be made manifest. And it was linked to the mission of believers in Yeshua who are charged with cultivating a place where God's presence would be made manifest in their own lives and to the world.

And I found that so powerful and beautiful. That's neat. I thought that was neat.

That's just your Bible tidbit of the day. So here we go. As we conclude, worship team, you guys can come up. Guys, I want you to reflect on what King David was praying today. And I want you to reflect on what it would have been like to be the people of Israel standing there, watching their king pour out of his heart his own generosity to see a place where God's presence was made manifest. And that they would respond by pouring their hearts out to see a place where God's presence is made manifest. I'm not talking about David and Israel at this point. I'm talking about Yeshua and us. And so reflect on that during this time that we gloat about giving thanks in our country and our culture.

And if you would please stand, I would love to say this as a congregation. Can we say the Lord's Prayer together? And if you're a King James Version person, you should be happy because that's the version I have up here. And so I would love to link in to at least the 4th century Christian believers who found value in this connection. So much, though, that they put this note in there, this hyperlink. Everyone together. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Amen.

To Equip You

You're praying that God does this through you. That's why you're praying it. To equip you. To equip you to forgive. To equip you to be content. To equip you to be an ambassador of Christ and his kingdom. And it requires a heart of gratitude and generosity. That is how we show the world who our God is. So...

A Time of Worship

We're going to have a time of worship. This is how we exit every service, the way that we came in through worship and praise. And we're going to pray. And if you need prayer today for whatever you're going through in your life, whatever circumstances, I invite you. We have a prayer team on either side of the room. This is an asset. This is a blessing to be able to have here, to be able to have someone that will stand beside you and walk before the Father with you. And so take advantage of that. Alvina Malkinu, our Father, our King, Father, we thank you for this time of reflection and thanksgiving. We thank you for the prayer of David.

We thank you for the words of wisdom and life and vitality spoken by your son, our King Yeshua. And Father, I ask that you would equip us with the hearts that we would need to show the world what your generosity looks and feels like. In Yeshua's name we pray, amen. Shalom, I'm Matthew Vanderels and I hope you enjoyed this message. Founded in Truth exists to build a community that bears the image of God and lives the redeemed life only Yeshua gives. If this message impacted you or if this ministry has been a blessing to you, we would love to hear from you. Send us a message through our contact form on our website and let us know how God has used this ministry to edify your faith and relationship with Him.

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