Recalibrating Treasures: From Scarcity to Abundance

1. "Our hearts get wrapped around treasures. We cannot help but treasure things. But one of the most basic human problems of our time and maybe ever is what I'm going to call disordered treasures. Today, we're talking about our treasures, our stuff, our money. At the start of each group semester here at The Bridge, we spend four weeks partnering with the ministry called Practicing the Way. And we walk through a particular practice, particularly in the context of community, that we focus on for the next semester. If you want to learn more, you can go to Bridge.com. Bridge.tv slash practices. And our practice for this semester is the practice of generosity. This will include both our time, our talent, and our treasure." [02:24] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "There are over 2,000 passages in the Bible that talk about our treasure. Jesus spends almost a quarter of his earthly ministry talking about our wealth. Our possessions. 16 of his 38 parables deal with money. There is more in the New Testament about money than heaven and hell combined. There are five times more verses that deal with money and possessions than prayer. So Jesus seems to think that money, possessions, and resources actually are a deeply spiritual matter. Jesus talks about money, I believe, not because he needs any, but because it's a lordship issue. We have to remember that at the center of the Christian story, we see Jesus becoming poor, emptying himself so that we might live. At the center of the story is not grasping for more." [03:22] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Generosity is an overflow of a heart of love. Now, Jesus knew that his followers would face major challenges when it came to money. He speaks to kind of this gravitational pull that they felt and we feel today when it comes to our resources. It's a pull to really three things. To hurry, worry, and consume. The first, hurry. The gravitational pull for us isn't just money and acquiring and stuff, but to buy stuff now. Right? You guys feel the urgency? All we have to do is see a convincing commercial or walk into a store, convince ourselves that we need something now." [04:42] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Worry is real. And one of the real problems with worry is that it focuses on the unknowns of tomorrow and can cause us to very much so miss the blessings of today. As Corrie Ten Boom puts it, Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength. But maybe the gravitational pull of our culture is best summed up in this third word, and it's, An article in the Atlantic entitled, We Are All Accumulating Mountains of Things, noted how online shopping and cheap prices are turning Americans into hoarders." [08:07] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "So yes, the gravitational pull of our culture leads us to hurry, worry, and consume. And what's the common thread that runs through all of these? Sadly, at the center of all of those is me. places me in the center of the universe. For many of us, that leaves us in a place of dissatisfaction, and anxiety, and emptiness. Anyone else feel some of that in this moment? Aren't you glad you came to church today? Hold on. It's not all gonna be doom and gloom. I wanna propose that there actually is a better way. Now, Jesus said a lot of controversial things. Would you all agree? Things like loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you." [08:58] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Generosity of money, of time, of relationship, of gifting, of influence. And the main thing that you have to be generous with in this season might not actually be money. While generosity is far more than the giving of our money or resources, though, it is not less. And so over the next four weeks, we're going to look at Jesus' central teaching on what we actually do with our stuff, with our resources. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 6. Jesus says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Jesus is saying, all that stuff that you're accumulating, it's not legacy stuff. It's not going to last. In fact, it's cluttering your soul with anxiety because you're constantly thinking about whether or not it's secure." [11:23] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "If you have an abundance mindset, you look at the world and you see a world of abundance. You see God as your father and provider. Yourself as his child and all of life as a gift. Do you know people who live like that? That just seem to have a sense of like, man, every breath is a gift. Everything this side of hell is a gift that we are not owed. If you live with gratitude toward God and generosity towards your neighbor, you receive and you give with joy. But if you have a scarcity mindset, you look out of the world and you see a world of lack. You're on your own. The world is a dangerous place. Life is a battle over scarce resources. You need to look out for number one because it's a dog-eat-dog world out there." [17:58] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "If we come to trust Jesus' vision of abundance and God is our Father and Provider, then his teaching on money starts to make sense. Don't worry. Seek first his kingdom. Give and it will be given to you. And then we're free. We're free to live with the posture of generosity. But if we don't believe, if we read Jesus' teachings, if we don't believe his teachings, if we don't think that he's right, then Jesus sounds unhinged. It's a dangerous world out there. I need to stockpile as much as I possibly can and we're enslaved by fear and greed, which is why Jesus goes on to say in verse 24, no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." [19:03] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "When we seek first the kingdom of God, we relentlessly pursue what is in the best interest of Jesus and his mission. This is much of what we actually got to celebrate today, by the way, with the shootmans. Is the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of his kingdom. For his gospel. For his reign. Jesus is saying to each of us, I don't just want your Sunday mornings. I want your heart. I want all of you. We can't just have a little Jesus here and a little Jesus there because we will never be satisfied with this life as long as we are obsessed with more, faster, or better. The only way we will find ultimate satisfaction in this life is when we seek the kingdom of God first." [27:19] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "So generosity then becomes not something that a pastor somewhere said that you should do. It's a practice by which we calibrate our hearts from scarcity to abundance. From fear of lack to trust in a Father who provides. From worry over our future to peace with whatever comes. From the endless desire for more to the enjoyment of what we already have. From grasping to gratitude. From misery to joy. So here's the challenge for just this week, the next seven days. Again, I encourage you to go to bridge.tv slash practices. And what if all of us, just for the next week, regardless of your context, whatever stage of life or region you find yourself in, what if each day for seven days we just look for one opportunity to be generous?" [28:20] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)