Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. If I ask you, do you consider yourself a generous person? How would you respond? Yes or no? Well, I actually did that at a shopping mall. It was crazy, and you can't believe what they told me. That's today. Stay with us.

Dave Drury: You've been told it's more blessed to give than to receive, but do you actually believe that? I'm Dave Drewy, and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram gives us four counterintuitive principles about sowing and reaping. And then he takes a personal step to help us further. He reads his own manifesto out loud, five declarations he has made before God about how he will handle money, lifestyle, and giving for the rest of his life.

This is much more than a theory about giving. It's a personal financial reckoning that Chip hopes will become yours too. Now here's Chip Ingram with his message titled, My Generosity Manifesto.

Chip Ingram: Generosity is the way to stop the greed in my heart and yours, and it's how God begins to grow and cultivate transformation. Now, let me show you the principles. Principle number one, we reap where we sow. Second principle is that we reap how much we sow.

The third principle, and this is the one at least for me was like, oh, wow. Do I really believe this or not? Kingdom sowing is counterintuitive. Notice the wisest man in the world in Proverbs 3:9 and 10. Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce, and here's the promise. So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. I don't know about you, I didn't grow up reading the Bible. Someone's telling me, take the very first and the very best of your work, and give it to God, to love and help people, and God says, that's how your barns are going to get. That doesn't make sense. You give away and you get more? It's kingdom.

Notice the words of Jesus, give and it'll be given unto you, counterintuitive. They'll pour back into your lap. So, bring a cup of generosity, you'll get a cup of generosity. Bring a bucket of generosity, get a bucket of generosity. It's just a law of the kingdom. Now, there's no give to get here, by the way. That's a perversion. There's no like, hey, I'm going to give away a lot because okay, now you owe me. Well, guess what, you've just violated the spirit of it. It's not generosity, that's manipulation.

Final principle is we never reap in the same season that we sow. This is why it's hard. Okay, you're listening to me thinking, man, I got a bunch of debt, and I'm supposed to start giving, or okay, I give 1.3%, or I'm doing this or I'm doing that. And even the thought of this, now I've seen God do it radically but, when you begin to give, don't expect the next day to get a promotion. He says, don't lose heart in doing good and in due time, underline due time, it'll reap if you don't grow weary. So then, what should we do? While we still have the opportunity, let us do good, get this to all people, circle all people. We don't just love each other, all people. Especially the people that they don't think you care at all, the marginalized people, the people whose politics or lifestyle or sexual orientation is different. Do good to all people. That's what Jesus did.

But especially to the household of the faith. The reason we continue in unhealthy, unwise, selfish, greedy practices. And did you hear? We, all of us, is because the consequences don't show up right away. I mean, if I sat down to watch a good basketball game and ate, I mean this whole box of Triscuits with my super duper sharp cheddar cheese, and my super Diet Coke in a moment of binging, and then if I got up and walked into the bedroom and immediately two pounds went around my waist. I think I could kick my Triscuits addiction. But it doesn't work like that.

And more seriously, small neglects in my marriage, small neglects in my investment in renewing my mind, just a little pecking around with some pornography here, just a little flirting here. Nothing happened, right? Nothing happened. A little obsession with work and not really spending time that's knowing what's on your kids' heart. Nothing happened. Everybody seems okay. 10 years, 12 years, 20 years. Marriage falling apart, kids disengaged. See, you never reap in the same season that you sow.

That's why it takes faith. The goal, God's goal is not to get some people to come to meetings, church, listen to someone talk, sing a couple songs, and be relatively a little bit nicer and maybe a little bit more moral than the world. That is not a Christian. Those are some activities that Christians are in. Following Jesus is, the seed of the living God of the Holy Spirit comes and takes residence inside your body when you recognize your sin and turn from it and ask God for forgiveness and base it solely on what he did on the cross and his resurrection. He actually enters your life and it begins to develop and cultivate the very character of Jesus in you as you get in community and get into his word and talk to him and become generous.

This is it actually says, my generosity manifesto. So this is mine, all right? It's not yours. And here's the question. Do you want to be extraordinarily kind and do you want to be extraordinarily generous? If so, you can, you know, check a box or two and at the very end, you know, you can do this and put that somewhere, that's what I really want to be and God will serve doing it. Or, I would never say this out loud. If you would rather choose to be a bit more selfish and a bit less generous and be miserly which usually ends up in miserable, then I wouldn't do anything. I mean, I really wouldn't. But there is, remember, we're deceived.

Money has the power to deceive. We actually think we're doing okay. Your money is probably the clearest x-ray or MRI of your soul. And it's so clear and it's so measurable. That's why Jesus talked about it because our money and hearts are connected. So, let me walk through, here's my manifesto. Whatever part you're willing and ready by the grace of God, here's an invitation. I hereby declare by the following actions, I'm inviting you to do that, that I believe it is, as Jesus said, more blessed to give than to receive. If you really believe it's more blessed to give than to receive, then your life is better and blessed in every way, relationally, friendships, financially. Well, then, okay. Check number one, I thereby declare that all that I have or ever will have belongs to Christ.

That was the turning point for me. Second, I hereby declare to act in obedience to God's word by giving back to God the first 10% of what he's blessed and entrusted to me. And you know, you can hear debates on tithing for today or whatever, it's probably not worth going into. Long before there was a law, Abraham gave 10% to Melchizedek after God richly blessed him with spoils, preincarnate Christ. Moses, they gave 10% of everything and if you add it all up, they gave like 23% of their income because because they were living in a theocracy. Part of it was kind of like tax and the other part was these thank and voluntary offerings. You know, you keep moving, Jesus, his life. The Pharisees of the day, boy, they tithed but they missed the heart, mercy, justice, kindness. He said, don't forsake the former tithing, but you got to get your heart right. Malachi would just say, you know, the reason that you're having financial issues and relational issues and your life has got, he he's he talked about like you have a purse with holes in it. In other words, you keep putting stuff in and it keeps leaking. He said, because you're robbing God.

You declare it really belongs to him by giving the first portion. For some of you, man, I'll tell you that that'd be a big step. You probably have to rearrange your finances and to do it first and not know how it's going to work out. That's faith. That was a hard one for me. But I can look back and realize, wow. Third is I hereby declare that Jesus' blessings, both financial or otherwise, are not designed primarily to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. See, what what when you're unconsciously greedy and deceived, every time you get more money, you get bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. You know, I used to drive this kind of car, now this kind of car, this kind of car. I used to make this much, so here's my house. Now, this is my house, now here's my two houses, now and and we just do it.

Now, I I think God wants to raise our standard of living. He's very, very gracious. I live in a really great house. I have a really nice car. But ask yourself, when when do you say, this is good? This is my standard. This is all I want. This is this is where God wants me to live. And you know for some of you that's a five-year-old Volkswagen. For others it's a Tesla. You figure that out. You know, because of your roles and your work and however, you figure out what it is. But but just what what if you said, when God brings more in, maybe it's not for a second home. Maybe it's not for a remodel. Maybe he actually gave me some to help some refugees in Syria, or some clean water in Africa, or some local ministry right here.

The next little box that I've checked is I hereby declare to intentionally and aggressively remove the shackles of personal debt that have limited my giving, my going, and my peace. 40 and 50% of all marriages that fail are traced back to financial issues that cause tension. So some of you, the next step is, okay, I'm going to give this but, I mean, we, there's certain things that are appreciable. God bless us, right? I'm paying for a house. But I actually pay a bunch off on the principle every month. Your personal debt, attack it. Go to a counselor, cut up your credit cards. There's there's plenty of good books about how to do that. But here's the deal. When I pay everything on time and I make minimum payments, I'm the slave, the scripture says.

Borrowers are the slave to the lender. So if I have a card and a lot of stuff, they're charging me 12, 13, 14%. You're more than tithing. You're just not doing it to God. It's called Visa, MasterCard, Discover. You you are, and you're paying that much more. We better move quickly on that one. That was very convicting for some of you.

Dave Drury: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue in just a moment. Chip has been in ministry for more than three decades and his passion has never changed, helping Christians live like Christians. Not just on Sunday, but every single day. If today's message is connecting with you, we'd love for you to dig deeper. Every program in this series and hundreds more are available 24/7 absolutely free on our website, livingontheedge.org. Right now, let's get back to Chip.

Chip Ingram: The next box is I hereby declare that I'll prayerfully cap my lifestyle expenses to become an extraordinarily generous person. And this was something that I did not that long ago. I grew up really pretty poor and my wife grew up pretty poor and had four kids and sometimes two in college and two in private schools and uh, gosh, I remember like we have a thousand dollars in savings. We're doing really, really great, you know. And that wasn't all that many years ago.

But uh, I I made some decisions. And and one of them was to do pre-decisions about generosity because your heart is deceitful. So I had a a guy that was a mentor and he said, someone had asked me to write a book and I was on my first book. And he said, um, I want to hire a professional financial planner for you to help you with your finances. I said, I don't need a financial planner. I got two kids in college, two in this, two in that. This is how much I make. This is what we're giving. I don't have any money. I don't I don't need a plan. He goes, no, no, no, no, no. You need a plan. He said, you need to decide in advance, Chip, what what you're going to do if God decides to bless this. He said, you want to be dependent on like income from books? I said, no, but I'd like to be able to pay for college education and some stuff. He said, okay.

So so I got with this financial planner. And basically, this is the they tell pastors, it's a Christian one. So, look, if you fall morally, you wreck your life, you wreck the church. Whatever you have to do, don't do that. If you get arrogant and full of yourself, you wreck your life, you wreck the church. But the one you guys don't think about is if your finances get out of line, you wreck your life, you wreck the church. So, why don't you decide, I've worked these things out, what should you give before you ever write the first book? So I prayed about it. Talked with Teresa. Well, we don't want to be dependent on this. So, why don't we say in advance? This was really easy. You know, uh, at least half of anything that comes in from any book, anytime, we'll just give to the Lord's work.

It was really pretty easy. I gave half of nothing away. But that decision in advance changed my world. And and you know, as a result, uh, yes, I have a very comfortable lifestyle, but then we said, anything at Living on the Edge, goes to them. Here's our lifestyle, all of that that comes in, we're going to give it all away. And it's been, it's so exciting. I mean, we I mean, we're poor people. We grew up I mean, poor people, like we couldn't pay the rent and stuff hardly. And now to write a check for all these orphans in in Zimbabwe and to write a check to an institution. The joy and the excitement and looking into people's eyes. God wants that for you. This is not about, give your money, give your money. But cap your lifestyle, and you cap it where he shows you. You know, I'm going to limit myself to two houses. Okay. Okay. Do whatever God shows you to do. But at some point in time, draw a line.

It's really exciting. And then the last one here is, I hereby declare, I'll volunteer my time and talent X percent of my waking hours. I'd like to write 10%. And I'm I'm being really gracious with you. Are you ready for this? 168 hours in a week. You hardly anyone sleeps 8 hours, although we should. So 8 times 7, 56, subtract that out. Now we're down to 112. Um, let me give you some time to eat. Take those 12 hours away. So you got 100 hours every week. Imagine, are you ready? Imagine. Imagine. Can you imagine if all of us gave 10 hours a week. That's 10% of our awakening in the name of Jesus to love people.

I mean, you could volunteer in the church, you can volunteer outside the church, you can do some Here's what I want to ask you. Which of those boxes are you going to check and what what's your next step? You grow into generosity. Well, here's some specifics. First step, and just do it for 90 days. If God doesn't show up, don't do it anymore. But for 90 days, I commit to take the first step in generosity by committing to give, and you put a percentage in. Of my income and my time weekly. Maybe you're saying, I don't have much faith. This is all new to me. Dear God, I have 2.5% faith. So that's what I'm giving. Or 5.7, or 1.3, or 8.9. I don't care what it is, it's between you and God. On this, there's there's no number here. But what if all of us did something? Half of all the people in America that are Christians give nothing.

Sounds really strong but it's true. But I think if I ask you, are you generous? You'd say, you know what, we don't make the connection. You're not a bad person. But we don't get it. Next step, as a follower of Christ, I commit to generously and faithfully give 10% of my time weekly. I mean, there's probably lots of you who know, this is what I really ought to do. I intellectually believe that. But right now, because of, I'm going to give some time, and, you know, I've got these kids in school, and I've got this here, and things at work are a little hard, and I'm concerned about the future. Guess what? None of those things ever change. This is about faith. God, it all belongs to you. You have told me, demonstrate that I really believe that by giving first and foremost. Above and beyond, I commit to joyfully growing my faith and generosity by giving blank percent above my current tithe of 10% of my income and weekly time.

It's interesting that as our as our income and things grow, I've met people that they've been a a Christian for 30 years. 30 years ago, I believe in tithing, it all belongs to God. They gave 10%. 30 years later, I give 10%. How can that be? How how can our hearts not grow? How cannot we see the opportunities? I can tell you what happens, we get deceived. And so what happens is, our lifestyle grows, but our giving doesn't grow. You know, like take a, like take a big risk, 1% this year. I'm going to 11% this year. I met a guy that literally supercharged my giving. He heard about that the year after he was married. And so he decided, every year I'm married, I'm going to give one more percent just to see if God shows up.

I met him when he was married 58 years. 58 and 10, he was giving 68% of his income. And then he turned to me, he goes, you know what's really interesting, you know, as a private architect, and somehow things worked out, I ended up kind of doing these shopping centers, and um, I can look back over. He talked like this, I can look back over. He was really old. I can look back over. 58 years and I've never made less money this year than the year before. It's amazing. God, you invest in the Great Bank of Heaven. Sorry Paul, that's a bad imitation. But but what what what would what would happen? What would happen if we did that?

The final one here is, for those of you that everything I'm talking about, you may even have the gift of giving and you're going, yeah, yeah, yeah, rah, rah, rah, I believe that. You're giving over and above, you're looking at a pretty big percentage. Here's my word for some of us that are kind of we've been growing. Pause and just ask about your motives. One of the dangers of getting radically generous in your giving is to begin to see numbers and, okay, I gave 29% last year, but I gave 31% this year like, hey, God, hey, look at me. And just back away and just ask, is there still joy? And then ask, okay, Lord, have I justified myself? Is there something really exciting you would put on my heart and I might what would I do something crazy and radical if you showed me? And just pray.

Because this is always about your heart. Although he was rich, speaking of Jesus, he became poor, that we, through his poverty might become rich. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth, that he might strongly support those whose heart is fully his. Lord, I've talked a lot about money. I know you have people all across the spectrum. You have some people that actually you don't even want any of their money today. You want them to say, could I receive something? Could I could I receive forgiveness of my sins and you come live inside of me and start a brand new life and have all my sins behind me today? Lord, that's your heart. And God, for all of us, It's easy to say this, but it's so true. You really, really, really neither need nor want our money. But Jesus, you talked about it so much because our heart is connected to it. My heart's desire is that you, tender, kind, gentle, loving, Holy Spirit, would fill people with a level of courage and faith, that you would break the power of darkness in their heart and in mine and that every one of us would take at least a baby step, toward being more generous. Amen.

Dave Drury: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. In a message titled My Generosity Manifesto. It's from our series The Jesus Revolution. Join the movement. Which you can find and listen to again anytime at livingontheedge.org. And Chip has a closing word for us in just a moment. Don't miss Chip's teaching Monday through Friday. Subscribe to the Living on the Edge podcast or find the Chip Ingram Sermon podcast for his full-length messages. Both are free wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Five declarations. Each one is simple on the surface and costly underneath. I hereby declare that all I have belongs to Christ, that Jesus' blessings are meant to raise my standard of giving, not my standard of living. That I will prayerfully cap my lifestyle. The story of sitting with a financial planner before his first book was ever published, making decisions about money he didn't yet have, is the picture of what it looks like to actually believe that God owns it all and to arrange your life accordingly in advance. And one more thing before we go, this week Chip has a special book he wants you to check out. Wise Son, Smart Son by Jack Alexander, is a beautifully crafted resource that shows you not just what wisdom is, but how to actually pursue it day by day.

On our next program, Chip sits down with Jack for a special interview to close out our series, The Jesus Revolution, and you'll want to hear it. You can get the book right now at wisesmart.com. That's wisesmart.com. Well, now here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: If we were talking across the table from one another, and you leaned in and said, you know, Chip, all this stuff about generosity, it's really a lot deeper than that, isn't it? And I would say, yeah, it really is. The greatest act of generosity was that God so loved the world that he gave generously his son, the Lord Jesus, that whoever would believe, actually would entrust themselves, would put their faith in him and what he did, shouldn't perish, but have everlasting life. And what I've learned over the years is, when I talk like this, God has already prepared thousands and thousands of people to hear what I'm about to say. And that is that you can have your sins forgiven today. That the generous God of the universe wants to say to you, would you receive my son as the sole and only means of a relationship with an absolutely pure and holy God? What I know is that right now, you need to respond and say, yes, Lord, I want that, with all the implications.

And if you would bow your head if it's appropriate, or keep your eyes open if you're driving, and just say in the depth of your soul and your heart, and your integrity, oh, God, I need you. Will you forgive me right now for all that I've done? I believe Christ died in my place. I believe that he rose from the dead, and I'm asking you on that basis alone, to make me your son, make me your daughter. And what I want you to know that God made that promise, and as you receive it in this moment by faith, you're his son, you're his daughter, you're forgiven. Now today you need to text or call the greatest Christian you know and say, I'm not exactly sure what I did, but I asked Christ to come into my life. And then you need to go to our website livingontheedge.org. We don't want anything from you. We have some resources to help new believers. And then find a church that teaches the Bible this weekend, and start taking baby steps to grow in your relationship with Christ. God bless you.

Dave Drury: Just go to livingontheedge.org/salvation. Well, I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you back next time when Chip Ingram concludes our series called The Jesus Revolution right here on Living on the Edge.

Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.