Relentless Love: The Heart of Generosity

### Summary

Welcome to the second week of our series, "Hope for Everyone," which is more than just a series; it's a three-year initiative aimed at reaching 3% of the Bay Area, or 250,000 people, with the hope of heaven over the next decade. This initiative is a call from God to not only work through us but also in us, awakening our faith and calling us to action.

Today, we delve into the parable of the lost coin from Luke 15:8-10, where Jesus illustrates the value of every individual soul. Just as the woman in the parable searches diligently for her lost coin, God seeks out each one of us with relentless love. This parable underscores the importance of financial generosity as a reflection of our heart's priorities. Jesus teaches that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

I shared a personal story about my parents' differing views on money and how it shaped my understanding of financial stewardship. My dad, who was not a believer for most of his life, saw money as a source of security and control, while my mom, a follower of Jesus, viewed it as a resource to be used for God's purposes. This tension taught me the importance of aligning our financial practices with our faith.

We discussed the concept of giving as an act of worship and trust in God. God doesn't need our money, but He wants our hearts, and giving is a tangible way to show that He has it. The Hope for Everyone initiative calls us to pray, serve, and give. Our goal is 100% participation from those who call Menlo home, not just in financial giving but in prayer and service as well.

We also explored the dangers of both scarcity and prosperity mindsets, advocating instead for a clarity mindset. This means recognizing that all we have belongs to God and should be used for His purposes. The Bible speaks extensively about money, more than 2,300 times, emphasizing its importance in revealing our true priorities.

Finally, I encouraged everyone to consider where they are on their giving journey, whether it's pilot giving, priority giving, percentage giving, or partnership giving. Each step is a move towards greater faith and trust in God. Remember, God wants to bless us through our generosity, not just financially but in every area of our lives.

### Key Takeaways

1. **God Seeks Us Relentlessly**: Just as the woman in the parable searches diligently for her lost coin, God seeks each one of us with relentless love. This illustrates the immense value God places on every individual soul. We are never too lost for God to find us and bring us back into His fold. [11:38]

2. **Financial Generosity Reflects Our Heart**: Jesus teaches that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Our financial decisions reveal our true priorities and trust in God. Giving is not about the amount but about the heart behind it, showing God that He has our full trust and devotion. [09:53]

3. **Scarcity vs. Prosperity vs. Clarity**: The scarcity mindset believes there is never enough, while the prosperity gospel treats God like an ATM. Instead, we should aim for clarity, recognizing that all we have belongs to God and should be used for His purposes. This mindset brings true peace and fulfillment. [17:41]

4. **The Importance of 100% Participation**: The Hope for Everyone initiative calls for 100% participation in prayer, service, and financial giving. This collective effort is crucial for reaching our goal of impacting 250,000 people in the Bay Area with the hope of heaven. Every small act of generosity contributes to a larger movement of God's work. [15:38]

5. **Generosity as a Path to Blessing**: Living generously not only aligns our hearts with God's purposes but also brings blessings into our lives. Secular studies and biblical teachings both affirm that generous people live more fulfilled and prosperous lives. God wants to bless us through our generosity, enriching our lives in ways beyond financial gain. [25:04]

### YouTube Chapters

[0:00] - Welcome
[04:19] - Introduction to the Hope for Everyone Initiative
[06:22] - Prayer and Kneeling
[07:28] - Personal Story: My Parents' Views on Money
[09:18] - The Principle of Giving
[11:05] - The Parable of the Lost Coin
[13:17] - The Search for the Lost Coin
[15:08] - The Hope for Everyone Initiative Goals
[17:09] - Scarcity vs. Prosperity vs. Clarity
[20:01] - The Consumption Assumption
[22:21] - Biblical Teachings on Money
[23:55] - Trusting God with Our Needs
[25:04] - Generosity Brings Blessings
[27:13] - Standard of Living vs. Standard of Giving
[30:39] - The Giving Pathway
[33:57] - Equal Sacrifice, Different Gifts
[35:02] - Personal Story: David's Transformation
[36:38] - Final Encouragement and Prayer

### Bible Reading
1. **Luke 15:8-10**: "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
2. **Matthew 6:21**: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
3. **Philippians 4:17-18**: "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God."

### Observation Questions
1. In the parable of the lost coin, what actions does the woman take to find her lost coin? (Luke 15:8-10)
2. According to Jesus in Matthew 6:21, what does the location of our treasure reveal about us?
3. How does Paul describe the gifts he received from the Philippians in Philippians 4:17-18?
4. What personal story did the pastor share about his parents' differing views on money, and how did it shape his understanding of financial stewardship? [07:28]

### Interpretation Questions
1. What does the parable of the lost coin teach us about God's view of each individual? How does this relate to the concept of relentless love? (Luke 15:8-10)
2. How does the principle "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" challenge us to reflect on our financial priorities? (Matthew 6:21)
3. In what ways does Paul’s gratitude for the Philippians' gifts go beyond the material support he received? How does this reflect the spiritual significance of generosity? (Philippians 4:17-18)
4. How does the pastor's story about his parents illustrate the tension between a scarcity mindset and a faith-based approach to financial stewardship? [07:28]

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt lost or distant from God. How did you experience His relentless love in seeking you out? How can you share this love with others? [11:38]
2. Consider your current financial priorities. What does your spending reveal about where your heart is? What changes might you need to make to align your finances with your faith? [09:53]
3. How can you cultivate a clarity mindset, recognizing that all you have belongs to God and should be used for His purposes? What practical steps can you take this week to shift from a scarcity or prosperity mindset to one of clarity? [17:41]
4. The Hope for Everyone initiative calls for 100% participation in prayer, service, and financial giving. What specific actions can you take to contribute to this collective effort? How can you encourage others to join in? [15:38]
5. Reflect on the different stages of the giving journey mentioned in the sermon (pilot giving, priority giving, percentage giving, partnership giving). Where do you see yourself on this path, and what is your next step towards greater faith and trust in God? [30:39]
6. How has generosity impacted your life in the past? Share a story of how giving has brought blessings into your life, not just financially but in other areas as well. [25:04]
7. Think about someone in your life who might be struggling with the concept of financial generosity. How can you support and encourage them to see giving as an act of worship and trust in God? [09:18]

Day 1: God's Relentless Pursuit of Us
God's love for each individual is relentless and unwavering. Just as the woman in the parable of the lost coin searches diligently for her lost coin, God seeks each one of us with an unyielding love. This parable illustrates the immense value God places on every individual soul. We are never too lost for God to find us and bring us back into His fold. This relentless pursuit is a testament to God's unwavering commitment to us, regardless of how far we may stray. Reflect on the fact that God is always seeking you, desiring to bring you closer to Him. [11:38]

Luke 15:8-10 (ESV): "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Reflection: Think of a time when you felt distant from God. How did you experience His pursuit of you during that time? How can you respond to His relentless love today?


Day 2: Financial Generosity as a Heart Indicator
Jesus teaches that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Our financial decisions reveal our true priorities and trust in God. Giving is not about the amount but about the heart behind it, showing God that He has our full trust and devotion. Financial generosity is a tangible way to demonstrate our faith and commitment to God's purposes. It reflects our willingness to prioritize God's kingdom over our own material desires. Consider how your financial choices align with your faith and what they reveal about your heart. [09:53]

Matthew 6:21 (ESV): "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Reflection: Examine your recent financial decisions. What do they reveal about your priorities and trust in God? How can you align your financial practices more closely with your faith?


Day 3: Embracing a Clarity Mindset
The scarcity mindset believes there is never enough, while the prosperity gospel treats God like an ATM. Instead, we should aim for clarity, recognizing that all we have belongs to God and should be used for His purposes. This mindset brings true peace and fulfillment, as it shifts our focus from accumulating wealth to stewarding God's resources wisely. Embracing a clarity mindset helps us find contentment and purpose in using our resources for God's glory rather than our own gain. Reflect on how you can adopt a clarity mindset in your daily life. [17:41]

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV): "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."

Reflection: Identify an area in your life where you struggle with a scarcity or prosperity mindset. How can you shift towards a clarity mindset, recognizing that all you have belongs to God?


Day 4: The Power of Collective Participation
The Hope for Everyone initiative calls for 100% participation in prayer, service, and financial giving. This collective effort is crucial for reaching our goal of impacting 250,000 people in the Bay Area with the hope of heaven. Every small act of generosity contributes to a larger movement of God's work. When we come together as a community, our combined efforts can create a significant impact. Reflect on how you can contribute to this collective mission through your prayers, service, and giving. [15:38]

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (ESV): "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many."

Reflection: Consider how you can actively participate in the Hope for Everyone initiative. What specific steps can you take in prayer, service, and giving to contribute to this collective mission?


Day 5: Generosity Brings Blessings
Living generously not only aligns our hearts with God's purposes but also brings blessings into our lives. Secular studies and biblical teachings both affirm that generous people live more fulfilled and prosperous lives. God wants to bless us through our generosity, enriching our lives in ways beyond financial gain. When we give generously, we open ourselves up to experiencing God's blessings in various aspects of our lives. Reflect on how you can practice generosity and the blessings that may come from it. [25:04]

Proverbs 11:24-25 (ESV): "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered."

Reflection: Think of a recent opportunity you had to be generous. How did it impact you and those around you? How can you continue to practice generosity in your daily life?

What a powerful story of really Isabel's legacy here at Menlo. And I love those words from Gonzo. I've been thinking about them all week. You have no idea when you're offering hope to someone who desperately needs it. And so we're so glad if that's today and we get to be a part of doing that in your life.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. We're so glad that you're here. Welcome back to a series that we are in the second week of called Hope for Everyone. And it's really more than a series. It's actually a three-year initiative that we're starting together as a first phase of God's call on our community to help reach 3%, 250,000 people in the Bay Area with the hope of heaven over the next 10 years.

And if you missed last week, right now, you're like, I missed a lot. And I would just encourage you, you're going to be able to go back and catch up. We're so glad that you're here. A special welcome to our Bay Area campuses in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Saratoga, and those of you joining us online.

Last week, I asked you to come every week of this four-week series, and you came back. So thank you so much. Thanks for doing that. On your way in last week, you received a booklet for the series and a commitment card. And I asked you to take that commitment card and put it somewhere prominently in your life so that you can be praying for how maybe God is asking you to respond as we prepare together for Commitment Weekend on Sunday, October 13.

I think I've got one of them on our fridge. I've got one of them where I study to prepare to bring what the Lord's asked me to bring right here. So wherever that is for you, I hope God's already using it in your life.

Now, if you weren't here last week, if you need more information or if you have questions, there are a couple of great places for you to go today. First, at every one of our campuses, we have Hope for Everyone stations after services with key leaders from Menlo who would love to help answer questions and have a conversation with you.

In addition, if you want to learn more or watch some of the video content that we've shown already in the first week of the series, you can do that by going to menlo.church.com. Speaking of which, if you missed the message last week, can I just really encourage you to go back and watch it because it sets the foundation for a whole lot of what we will continue to talk about today.

It has been really fun to hear and get a bunch of responses from you all over the course of the last week about how this has personally changed our lives. And I want to thank you all for that. We talked last week, not just about the hope that we hope God does through us, but what it is God needs to do to us and in us.

For some of you, you talked about how God used this season to really wake something up in you, that your faith had stagnated and settled. And this call from God for us is a call from God for you. I'm so glad for that.

As a matter of fact, I've exchanged more emails this week about prayer with you or for you, as well as fielding people's interest in jumping in to serve than any other single week in my time at Menlo. So thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to and responding to the call of God on your life.

With that in mind, I'm gonna pray for us. And if you've never been here before or never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. And part of the reason that I do that is because of this overwhelming reality that God is working right now. And I wanna thank God for working.

For some of you, this is a brand new experience for you. You're just stepping in. You're not sure about what you're even experiencing. And really, I hope what you hear is kind of a family meeting over the next few weeks. That if you're not a follower of Jesus, you're trying to figure out church, that what you experience is a group of people who love you enough that before they even knew your name, they were investing in you to find hope in this place.

Would you pray with me?

God, thanks so much. Thank you for the fact that you are not done with any one of us. That if we have believed the lie that maybe we've whispered to ourselves or someone else has said to us that we, God, are lost causes, that you're done with us, that we've gone too far, done too much. Would you remind us, God, or maybe tell us for the first time by the power of your spirit, how loved we are and the incredible plan that's in front of us, God, that you wanna use us as a part of. It's in Jesus' name, amen.

My dad became a Christian very late in his life. But for most of his life, he was very closed and opposed to God. There were a lot of byproducts as a result of that for our family that aren't universal when somebody doesn't believe in Jesus, but they impacted us a lot as a family.

And one of them was the tension between my mom, who was a follower of Jesus, and my dad, who was not. My mom and dad, they both passed away now, but my mom was a first-generation American Russian Jew. And for her, she became a Christian, a follower of Jesus as a young adult.

And she always talked throughout my childhood and young adult years about giving God her time and her talent. But my mom, even though she worked outside the home, really never felt like her treasure, her finances were hers to give. And money in our house, it represented power, it represented control, it represented, especially for my dad, security, who grew up not knowing really his mom, never knowing his dad, raised by a strict grandmother who was just trying to make ends meet and survive.

And so my dad was very tight with money. And as a result, so was our family. My parents loved each other and they tried to make the most of this tension throughout their more than 50 years of marriage. But this approach to money as a thing of scarcity, with more never being enough and the only way to have real security seeming to be just an ever-increasing amount of money is something that over the course of the years worked its way into me too.

Understanding that this call from God to worship him with our time, with our talent, and with our treasure, it took me years to process and to incorporate into my regular faith rhythms as a young follower of Jesus. But I am so glad in hindsight that even though it took longer than I wish it had, that God finally broke through into my life with this principle.

For some of you, money is the hardest part for you to think about. And I wanna like just say this up front, if you're a follower of Jesus, you call Menlo home, I'm gonna lean a little bit today, but I wanna make sure you hear me very clearly about this. God doesn't need your money, but he wants your heart. And giving is how we show him he has it.

There is an invisible cable that directs your heart and it's connected to your money. Jesus says it this way, wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart really is.

We're gonna talk about the favor of God in our lives related to where and how we invest financially. This isn't everything, it's not the only idea of our faith, but it is way more important than we often give it credit or highlight in the way we talk about it. And I want to apologize as your pastor for not talking about this enough.

I believe that by not talking about it, and you not responding to it, you are actually missing something that God wants in your life. There is something so important about the way you and I lean into this conversation.

Ironically, the next parable in the passage that we started talking about last week in this trio of parables from Jesus is about a coin because of the very principle that we are talking about. If you missed it, Jesus is talking to a group of religious leaders and the kinds of people that religious leaders avoided when he shares three parables or stories with hidden meanings to show his heart for people.

Last week, Jesus talked about a shepherd who would leave 99 sheep to go find one lost sheep. And he rejoiced when he found it. Jesus made the point that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner, this person who's wandered from God, in that time, actual class of people, who repents, who turns back, than over 99 righteous people who don't think that they need to.

That was the first of this. Then Jesus leans into the second parable this way. He says, "Or what woman, having 10 silver coins, if she loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

This passage follows a similar pattern to the one that we studied last week. Something that was valuable was lost. But instead of just letting it go, the person who lost it went to a relatively great length to find the lost item. In this case, it's a coin.

Now, parables often would leave out some of the details that you and I, maybe when we were telling or hearing a story, might share or expect. And the idea inside of a parable is to make sure you're focusing on the key idea rather than the details of the story. But even with that as the case, this person, me portraying a working-class woman, had saved up 10 days' worth of wages, which would have been an incredible accomplishment at the time.

Then she realizes that she has lost one. And instead of simply moving on and maybe realizing like, "Hey, I have some margin, I'm gonna be more diligent next time," she goes on a search. And it's not just any search. She searches diligently for it in this likely windowless house. By sweeping the grass or the hay on the ground, probably moving furniture. Maybe you've looked for an item like this. She lights a lamp. She's looking everywhere for it.

And just like with the shepherd last week, she doesn't do this until she's tired or until she gets credit for looking. She looks for it until she finds it. Then in part of the story that feels a little exaggerated for effect, she has a party to celebrate finding this coin.

I've been at a lot of parties, for a lot of reasons. I've never been at a party about finding a coin, right? And Jesus, he tells this story to the group. And again, I wonder if at this point, like right after he finishes the story, he just directs his eye contact to the religious leaders and says, "Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

See, for the religious leaders, they had taken a bad interpretation of the law to justify avoiding interacting with sinners in this community. And here, Jesus was saying, God actually prioritized reaching this group of people they were avoiding. What a contrast.

And all of it centered around this one little coin, one day's wage. Jesus was connecting the way they valued money to the way he valued people. And not just people in general, but a group of people they would rather forget.

Now, I know that I'm already making some of you uncomfortable by talking about money and generosity. And if I'm honest, this makes me a little uncomfortable too because it's easy to tell ourselves a story about faith and church. And one of those stories is all the church is interested in is my money. And that's not true, but God actually has something to say about our money and our resources because of what they represent in our heart and because of the impact, if altogether we lean into this conversation.

See, the Hope for Everyone initiative is to honor God's heart to reach people and to see the Bay Area changed through a first-ever revival in our region in history. We talked about that last week. I believe that God will bless it and that we will be faithful with what he provides.

But remember the first goal that I mentioned last week, it wasn't a dollar amount. The first goal that I mentioned last week was 100% participation. That if you're a follower of Jesus and you call Menlo home, that we would have 100% of that group of people participate in prayer by saying, "God, I'm going to continue to seek the heart of heaven for the hurting in this world."

I believe that the condition of the Bay Area breaks the heart of God and that he wants to move heaven to address the needs, the brokenness, and the hopelessness all around us in our neighborhoods, in our communities, at our schools, at our job, in our cities, around the Bay Area because not only would reaching the Bay Area change the Bay Area, changing the Bay Area would change the world.

That we would pray to God to say, "Increase my faith to believe that you can do that. Maybe I've become complacent and comfortable." Well, growth is never found in comfort. And so maybe God's calling you to get uncomfortable, that we would pray together, not just over the next few weeks, but diligently over the course of the next three years as we see God begin this work.

Second, I ask people to serve. Like I said, a bunch of you raised your hand and said, "I'm in." Some of you are thinking about it and praying about it. But the Hope for Everyone initiative is everything we do over the next three years. So whether that's the regular ministry that makes Menlo happen, or it's the ministry through partnerships around the Bay Area and around the world, we really, really, really want to be a community that doesn't just pray, but that we serve.

And then finally, that you would commit financially. And that's a big one, right? We're talking about Commitment Weekend in just a couple of weeks. And what does it look like for us to make a financial commitment together? I truly believe that if we give God our first and best, he will take care of the rest.

Because remember, God doesn't need your money. But he wants your heart. And giving is how we show he has it. See, what's so hard about this conversation is that we have usually been shaped in the way we think about money by extremes.

One end of the spectrum that we have is scarcity. That's the way that I grew up. There is never enough. And when this is our perspective, it really will never be enough, no matter how much you have. On the other end of the extreme is this distorted view of generosity called the prosperity gospel.

And the prosperity gospel is where we turn God into an ATM machine that if we will just follow a certain pattern of behaviors and do a certain number of things a certain way, then we place God in our debt. And he has to show up in the way we want him to, especially financially. And while this sounds really convenient and like, "Well, that's an option, let's try it," what people who try it realize is that it doesn't work. That's not actually how God shows up.

And so the God-centered expression of generosity, it isn't scarcity and it isn't prosperity. It's clarity. See, the Bible makes it really clear that our money actually isn't ours. It's all God's. If you're a follower of Jesus, we should be thinking about how we spend all of the money God trusts us with. That doesn't mean that we can't enjoy it. We should be able to enjoy it. But it means that that isn't our only goal and it's not our first investment.

Ironically, we really didn't talk much about money in our house. You just kind of felt this scarcity mindset all the time. In every conversation, with every decision. We spent, it seemed like, everything that we made thinking that it could keep us safe and happy and comfortable, and it never did.

As a matter of fact, my dad got laid off when I was about seven years old for nearly two years. And all that money that he had saved up ran out. And all the comfort and security that he thought it would provide, it didn't. And my dad, who at the time was not a follower of Jesus, begrudgingly accepted the support of people in the church that we attended because he was a follower of Jesus to get us to survive through those couple of years. And it changed me.

That generosity, seeing people give sacrificially to help us, changed me. The way that our family grew up was the way that a lot of us grow up with a consumption assumption. That everything I have is for me to get even more.

See, that attitude of entitlement, it feels very normal because in the cultural waters that we all swim in, that idea of the consumption assumption is what every commercial, what every ad you scroll past, what every product you're thinking about right now, it's what all of them want you to believe because they have a vested financial interest in you continuing to believe it.

I wonder, as we think about that story of the woman with the lost coin, if one of the reasons that someone like that might have been concerned about losing a coin like that could have been that a tenth at the time, the way they would have thought about generosity. I wonder if it wasn't even that she was thinking about giving or living on that tenth coin, but she was thinking about giving that coin.

And it was such a priority for her to live generously that she cleared everything out to live generously. I wonder for us, if all of a sudden the first thing that had to go in your schedule, the first thing that had to go in your budget was living generously with God and people, would you easily let it go? Because it would be such an easy thing to eliminate from your life.

Did you know that the average American home has 300,000 items in it? Some of you are like, "That's it? You're an overachiever." Or how about the fact that 3.1% of the world's children own 40% of its toys? How about the fact that the average American purchases 65 pounds of clothing per year? Or the idea that the US has 50,000 storage facilities, like we don't have enough space at our house, so we get storage facilities.

Which, if you didn't know this, 50,000 storage facilities, that's five times the number of Starbucks. So if you're ever like, "We have too many Starbucks," just think about that, right? At a high level, Americans spend $1.2 trillion on stuff they don't need every single year.

Now, I'm not saying any of that to say that this is definitely you, or that if it does describe you, I want you to feel guilty. I don't. My hope is that we feel responsible, that we feel accountable as stewards, or as managers, as followers of Jesus.

Jesus put it this way, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Did you know that the Bible talks more about money than any other subject? And that we are stewards, not owners of everything that we have, that it's all God's?

There's a passage that says, we are not foolish, we are actually wise, to give up what we cannot keep, to gain what we cannot lose. That's the investment of the kingdom. The Bible talks about money more than 2,300 separate times. And you're like, "Well, Phil, the Bible is a big book. Like, how does that relatively match up to other things?"

Well, how about an important topic like faith? 500 times. Prayer? I'm pro-prayer. 500 times. Heaven? Like, we're really thankful for heaven. 700 times. Hell? About 50 times. Money isn't important by itself. It's important because of what it means, because of what it reveals.

Remember that famous statement from Jesus? "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Also, there is a rudder in your heart that moves the direction of your money, that moves as you make financial decisions in your life. Think about what you're doing with your treasure right now. Is it headed in the direction you want your heart to go? Is it headed in the direction of God's kingdom? Or is it headed in the direction of the kingdoms of this world and what they want from you? Is it just going to fade away?

Even if you're not a follower of Jesus, this principle is true. Where we place our money, that's where our heart is headed, that right now. In the same section, just a few verses later, Jesus is challenging his listeners to consider how many different ways in creation God takes care of things that do no part of taking care of themselves just to show and reveal God's faithfulness for them.

And he finishes that section this way. He says, "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious saying, 'What will we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? When will we get the new iPhone?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them, except probably for that iPhone. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you."

See, God, he wants our first and best because it shows him that we trust him with the rest. But not only do I hope you'll engage in this part of your faith because it moves your heart closer to God, but because living with this kind of clarity around generosity directs God's favor into your life. Actually, it blesses you.

God wants something to do in your life through generosity. Remove faith from this equation. Secular neuroscientists are telling us, sociologists are telling us that people who are generous live better and more prosperous lives. Jesus is telling us how he made us. We just have to choose to believe him.

And then we have the heart of heaven moving into the brokenness of the world when we choose to live in obedience to him. Remember, we're not a prosperity gospel church and we're not a scarcity church. We are aiming for clarity.

And here's what the scriptures teach about this. "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a gift that you sent, a gift that you sent, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God."

Now, the apostle Paul is writing to the church at Philippi from prison. And the way that you survived in prison at the time, whether it was in a prison or under house arrest, is people supplied you with care packages to be able to give you what you needed. And Paul here is not saying thank you because I really needed this. He's saying God's always provided for me.

Here's why I'm so thankful. Here's why I'm celebrating because the gifts that you've given are going to be given back to you in the grace and favor of God for your life. I'm so thankful and I celebrate because of what this will do in your life, not just from your bank account.

And for them, they gave sacrificially to be able to help Paul. Now, this took me years to believe and to try out as a young follower of Jesus in my own life. But God has done for me what Paul said he would do for the church in Philippi.

When we first moved to Seattle to do ministry after grad school, I was making a lot of money. I was doing almost nothing, but trying to live generously. And God always provided. When the size of our family increased, but the size of our income didn't, we kept living generously and God always provided.

I just wonder, like there's so much of this pressure we feel every day to think what if we could just get a little better situation, move to a little bit better neighborhood? What if we could get that next thing? What if we could travel to this place?

Maybe just pen this down. Maybe just pen this question down for you to think about and process this week. What if we were less concerned with our standard of living and more concerned with our standard of giving? Because your standard of living will go away. It will fade. The kingdoms of this world will pass away.

It is no fool who gives what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose. That's what Jesus was talking about. That we would see that the kingdom of heaven is far more valuable than the kingdoms of this world and the possessions that promise to fulfill us but never do.

The next iPhone, outfit, trip, or upgrade is not capable of the kind of impact that generosity has on your heart and the kingdom of God. Now, we've all heard the difference between a depreciating asset, something that's losing value, and an appreciating asset, something that has an increasing value.

From an eternal perspective, we see over and over again that all the kingdoms of this world are depreciating assets. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy it. It doesn't mean there's not fun to be had. It just means understand when you invest in the things of this world, they are fading away.

But that all the things of the kingdom of heaven and when we invest in them, they are appreciating assets, not just for the next few decades, but for millennia to come. I told you that I received a ton of emails this week about how people were processing this initiative. Mostly positive.

And one really has stopped me from saying, stuck out to me over the course of this last week. It came from a grandmother who wrote these words. She said, "I know I would give all I have to bring my unsaved grandkids to Christ through a revival." And I asked for her grandkids' names that I could be praying for them.

And there's some grandparents in the room right now that feel the same way. There are some parents in the room that feel the same way. There are some students in the room that have some peers that they feel the same way about. I hope you have people in your life that you feel this way about, that you would say, "I would do anything, God, for them to find hope in you. I'm watching them flounder. I'm not just concerned about the hell they're going to. I'm concerned about the hell they're walking through right now."

I hope you have people like that. Because God does. He gave his only son so that we could be bought back. And the message of the gospel is that we can know God personally now and forever because of Jesus' finished work on the cross.

But that's not just so we can get in and have a holy huddle. It's so that we can bring hope to everywhere that we go, to everywhere we live, work, learn, play, all the spaces and places of our lives, that we would be thoughtful witnesses with how we live our lives.

See, financial generosity, it can be a really difficult conversation because in the Bible, there is kind of a dimmer switch about the way that finances are talked about and the way we think about giving. But sometimes in church, we teach on giving like it's a light switch. You're either on and you give 10% or you're off and you give nothing. And that's the only way we have a conversation about it.

But at Menlo, we have something called a giving pathway that we believe can help people identify where they are in this generosity journey and what their next step might be. And this might parallel to how long you've been a follower of Jesus or maybe the season of life that you're in.

But it starts with what we call pilot giving. It doesn't mean you're flying at something. It means you're testing something out. The book of Malachi is the only place that we're told that we should test God. The only place that you're told you should test God is with your generosity.

That if you will give and you'll be faithful to give, that God actually is going to show up in unique ways. God says, "Try me. Try me on this." After pilot giving is priority giving, where we learn to give our first and best to God.

I think that there are a lot of people at Menlo that the Hope for Everyone initiative, it represents an opportunity for you to step into what it means to be a priority giver. A lot of people at Menlo giving their first and best means that they automate their giving so that even if they don't give, even when their attendance fluctuates, their generosity doesn't.

We give attention to our intention even when we're not in attendance. Then there's percentage giving. We give a growing percentage of our resources away as our pursuit of Jesus grows. 10% is a great number. It's a number we see repeated throughout the scriptures.

But sacrificial giving is the New Testament goal. And in that stage of generosity, 10% is often the floor, not the ceiling of our giving. And finally, here at Menlo, there's what we call partnership givers. These are people who give above and beyond for generations of people to meet Jesus that they won't meet until heaven.

These people are among the most kind and thoughtful people that I've ever met. And we are incredibly blessed to have many of them here in our community at Menlo. For some of us, this just feels really difficult. And it's not because you have a money problem.

Like you hear some of that and you go, "Well, Phil, I'm a student. I can't give anything." And I would just tell you, it's all pennies out of a dollar. It will never be easier for you to start giving than right now. And all those little markers you have in your life that you're like, "Well, I'll give when I make this much" or "I'll give when I make this much."

I'm just telling you that your flesh and the enemy of your soul will keep lying to you and tell you that there's a future date where you will have enough margin and enough comfort that if you just wait, then it will become easier. It will never be easier for you to start giving than right now.

For some of you, you're saying, "Phil, I'm really deep in debt." And what you give is between you and God. But I would say if you wait till all of your financial responsibilities are covered to hear from the voice of God and to give something, you will often find that you never give.

Today is the easiest day for you to ever start giving. I know that it's hard though because we feel like we have a money problem, but oftentimes we don't have a money problem. Money is likely just revealing a deeper problem.

Tim Keller puts it this way. He says, "Money is not your idol. Money reveals where your idols are." And I don't know about you. I don't like it. I don't like how that feels. It's like a magnifying glass on parts of my heart and priorities that I don't want revealed. But that's what money does. And Jesus knew it.

See, for some of us, that's the challenge we need. We are here right now in this place, the campus that you're at, watching online, because people who have been a part of Menlo decade after decade have recognized when it was their turn to invest in people that they may never meet until heaven. And now it's our turn.

See, the gifts might not be equal depending on where you are in life or your giving path, but we can make equal sacrifice. An $80 million One Fund campaign, just so you know, it does not mean that we're trying to raise all of those in addition to our normal giving. It means everything.

That everything that happens financially at Menlo over the next three years will be a part of the Hope for Everyone initiative. And it represents $35 million of investment in people you don't know yet.

I remember one initiative like this years ago, where a couple came to a vision night that we were holding, and the husband had just recently become a Christian. His wife had been feeling pulled by God for some time to pursue faith, and her husband, David, was an adamant atheist to the point where he had told her that their marriage might not survive if she became a Jesus follower.

Over time, he saw his wife changing, really, as she pursued Jesus. And one week later, he was able to say, she told me that she had prayed with him for the first time ever. It was this breakthrough. I remember watching David find Jesus. I remember baptizing him and watching his outlook in life begin to change.

And shortly after that, like very quickly after he became a follower of Jesus, was that gathering. And he walks up to me, and I think to myself, "Oh no, how is he gonna take all of this, right?" Because like every person that's sort of resistant to church, this conversation is a pressure point. It's why we're scared to have it.

And after the gathering, he walks up to me, and he says, "You know what I love about this?" And I thought, "This could go a couple different ways," right? He said, "You know how you said that people who didn't know me, didn't know my name, loved me and invested in me before they knew me? That's why we're here tonight."

And I say, "Yeah, yeah, I know that." He said, "What I'm most thankful for is when you say this in the future to a group of people, and you tell them, there's a group of people that loved you before they knew your name. They invested in you. They invested in you before they knew you. You're going to be talking about me."

And I thought, "Okay, Lord." Because at a certain point, like you either believe this is true or you don't. You either think that God can do this with your resources or you don't. And the more resistant you are to this teaching right now, the more mad you are at me right now, the more you're writing an email to me in your mind right now, I'm telling you, the more God may have something waiting for you on the other side of your choice to be obedient to the way you are.

And you live generously because wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is. And remember, God doesn't need your money. He wants your heart. And when you give and how you live, that's how you show him that he has it.

So wherever you are in this conversation, I'm praying that God meets you there and that he moves you forward because of how much potential lives in your and my life if we will say yes to being generous people.

Would you pray with me?

God, thank you so much. Thank you for this beautiful picture in these parables about how much you prioritize people who don't know you yet, that we would be reminded. We wouldn't slip into this group of religious leaders that they have convinced themselves that they can separate themselves from people that don't know you yet, but that God, your heart for people who don't know you is so big that God, you long for everyone to know you.

And so God, as we long to see hundreds of thousands of people meet you in the Bay Area to change our region, to change the world, to be able to see the hope of heaven invade the hurts and pains and hopelessness all around us, would you open our minds, open our bank accounts, open our resources that we might realize, God, it's better to give what we can't keep for what we can't lose, to continue to down the path of depreciating assets and things that'll be in junk drawers in just a few months.

God, give us clarity about what this looks like in our lives, personally and collectively. In Jesus' name, amen.

1. "You have no idea when you're offering hope to someone who desperately needs it. And so we're so glad if that's today and we get to be a part of doing that in your life. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We're so glad that you're here. Welcome back to a series that we are in the second week of called Hope. For everyone. And it's really more than a series. It's actually a three-year initiative that we're starting together is a first phase of God's call on our community to help reach 3%, 250,000 people in the Bay Area with the hope of heaven over the next 10 years." [04:19] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "We talked last week, not just about the hope that we hope God does through us, but what it is God needs to do to us and in us. And for some of you, you talked about how God used this season to really wake something up in you, that your faith had stagnated and settled. And this call from God for us is a call from God for you. I'm so glad for that. As a matter of fact, I've exchanged more emails this week about prayer with you or for you, as well as fielding people's interest in jumping in to serve. than any other single week in my time at Menlo. So thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to and responding to the call of God on your life." [05:34] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "God doesn't need your money, but he wants your heart. And giving is how we show him he has it. There is an invisible cable that directs your heart and it's connected to your money. Jesus says it this way, wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart really is. We're gonna talk about the favor of God in our lives related to where and how we invest financially. This isn't everything, it's not the only idea of our faith, but it is way more important than we often give it credit or highlight in the way we talk about it." [09:18] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "See, the Hope for Everyone initiative is to honor God's heart to reach people and to see the Bay Area changed through a first ever revival in our region in history. We talked about that last week. I believe that God will bless it and that we will be faithful with what he provides. But remember the first goal that I mentioned last week, it wasn't a dollar amount. The first goal that I mentioned last week was 100% participation. That if you're a follower of Jesus and you call Menlo home, that we would have 100% of that group of people participate in prayer by saying, God, I'm going to continue to seek the heart of heaven for the hurting in this world." [15:08] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "What if we were less concerned with our standard of living and more concerned with our standard of giving? Because your standard of living will go away. It will fade. The kingdoms of this world will pass away. It is no fool who gives what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose. That's what Jesus was talking about. That we would see that the kingdom of heaven is far more valuable than the kingdoms of this world and the possessions that promise to fulfill us but never do." [27:13] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Think about what you're doing with your treasure right now. Is it headed in the direction you want your heart to go? Is it headed in the direction of God's kingdom? Or is it headed in the direction of the kingdoms of this world and what they want from you? Is it just going to fade away? Even if you're not a follower of Jesus, this principle is true. Where we place our money, that's where our heart is headed, that right now." [23:28] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "I know I would give all I have to bring my unsaved grandkids to Christ through a revival. And I asked for her grandkids' names that I could be praying for them. And there's some grandparents in the room right now that feel the same way. There are some parents in the room that feels the same way. There are some students in the room that have some peers that they feel the same way about. I hope you have people in your life that you feel this way about, that you would say, I would do anything, God, for them to find hope in you. I'm watching them flounder. I'm not just concerned about the hell they're going to. I'm concerned about the hell they're walking through right now." [29:17] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "You either believe this is true or you don't. You either think that God can do this with your resources or you don't. And the more resistant you are to this teaching right now, the more mad you are at me right now, the more you're writing an email to me in your mind right now, I'm telling you, the more God may have something waiting for you on the other side of your choice to be obedient to the way you are. And you live generously because wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is. And remember, God doesn't need your money. He wants your heart. And when you give and how you live, that's how you show him that he has it." [36:15] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "See, financial generosity, it can be a really difficult conversation because in the Bible, there is kind of a dimmer switch about the way that finances are talked about and the way we think about giving. But sometimes in church, we teach on giving like it's a light switch. You're either on and you give 10% or you're off and you give nothing. And that's the only way we have a conversation about it. But at Menlo, we have something called a giving pathway that we believe can help people identify where they are in this generosity journey and what their next step might be." [30:10] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "I just wonder, like there's so much of this pressure we feel every day to think what if we could just get a little better situation, move to a little bit better neighborhood? What if we could get that next thing? What if we could travel to this place? Maybe just pen this down. Maybe just pen this question down for you to think about and process this week. What if we were less concerned with our standard of living and more concerned with our standard of giving? Because your standard of living will go away. It will fade. The kingdoms of this world will pass away. It is no fool who gives what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose." [27:13] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)