Tag: Generosity

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The Stubborn Nature of Sin

Summary of my sermon, based on Luke 16:19-24. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on Sunday, 31 May 2026.

The Kingdom Demand for Integrity
In this section of Luke (Chapters 9–22), Jesus provides a primer on kingdom living. In Luke 16, he specifically addresses the stewardship of resources. He warns us in verse 13: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

When Jesus taught this, the Pharisees—who were lovers of money—ridiculed him. We see the core of their problem in that opposition. As 1 Timothy 6:10 reminds us, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Despite being well-versed in scripture, the Pharisees could not see Jesus as the Messiah because their hearts were fixed on wealth.

This confrontation leads to the kingdom demand for integrity. Jesus explains that the Law and the Prophets were the primary revelation until John the Baptist; since then, the good news of the kingdom has been preached. Jesus does not discard the law; he fulfills it. He interprets it correctly, exposing the Pharisees’ obsession with legalistic loopholes—such as their narrow, heartless definitions of work on the Sabbath—versus his own focus on doing good, healing, and honoring God. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
This brings us to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). We see a stark contrast: the rich man is drenched in luxury, wearing purple and fine linen, and feasting sumptuously every day. Lazarus, conversely, is covered in sores, longing for the crumbs from the rich man’s table.

Death is the great equalizer, but it also reveals a great reversal. In the afterlife, the rich man is in anguish while Lazarus is comforted by Abraham. The lifestyle gap of their earthly lives is replaced by a “great chasm” that cannot be crossed.

While some scholars debate whether this is a parable or a literal account of hell, it reveals profound truths:

  • Hell is an eternal, conscious torment
  • Hell is a eternal separation from God, the source of everything good and perfect
  • Being sent to hell is the result of actions we take in this life.

The rich man, even in his torment, asks Abraham to warn his five brothers. But Abraham replies, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). When the rich man insists that someone rising from the dead would convince them to repent, Abraham delivers the sobering conclusion: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

The Sufficiency of Christ
The love of money acts as a false god. It is a replacement for God’s sufficiency. This trap is not limited to the wealthy; even if you believe that “having enough” is the key to solving all your life’s problems, you have placed your faith in money rather than God.

Money is a tool, but the love of money is a snare. We see the alternative in the life of someone like Kiwi, a former beneficiary of the Compassion program who was released from the cycle of poverty and now uses her life to share the truth of God’s love. When we view our resources through the lens of generosity rather than greed, we reflect the heart of Christ.

Scripture is sufficient. It acts as a mirror, pointing to our sin and revealing our need for a Savior. All the Law and the Prophets point to Jesus Christ. Sin is persistent, but the gospel is the glorious gift that saves us from it. May we be a people who truly love God, steward our resources with integrity, and care for those in need around us.

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A Test of Our Hearts

Summary of my sermon, based on Luke 12:13-21. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on August 17, 2025.

This morning we turned to Luke 12:13–21. Let’s read together. “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.’” (Luke 12:13–21, ESV).

Here we see a man come to Jesus with what seems like a fair request. He wanted Jesus to settle a family dispute over inheritance. But notice how Jesus responds. He doesn’t get into the legal details. He doesn’t play the role of arbitrator. Instead, he takes the opportunity to warn the crowd: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness.”

Why? Because Jesus knows the deeper issue isn’t about inheritance—it’s about the heart. Covetousness. Greed. That subtle sin that convinces us life is found in more possessions, more wealth, more stuff. But Jesus says plainly, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

To drive this home, Jesus tells a parable. A rich man’s land produced so much that he ran out of space to store it. His solution? Tear down the barns he already had and build even bigger ones. His reasoning? “This way I can store up everything for myself and then sit back, relax, and enjoy life.” On the surface, it almost sounds wise. Isn’t this what many of us dream of? Working hard, building security, retiring comfortably, and enjoying the fruit of our labor?

But then comes the shocking twist. God says to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” What a powerful reminder. All of the man’s planning, all of his storing, all of his comfort and security—it vanished in an instant. His barns stayed full, but his soul was empty.

Notice something in this parable: the man thought only of himself. In just a few short verses, he refers to himself repeatedly—“my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods, my soul.” Not once does he mention God. Not once does he think of others. His world was centered entirely on himself.

That’s why Jesus calls him a fool. Not because he planned ahead, but because he lived as though life was all about possessions, as though wealth was the ultimate treasure, as though his soul could be satisfied with bigger barns. But death exposed the truth—none of it mattered.

And Jesus closes with this piercing line: “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” That’s the heart of the message. Being “rich toward God.”

So what does that mean? It means recognizing God as the giver of everything we have. It means being generous, using our resources for the good of others and the glory of God. It means storing up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy. It means, as James reminds us, holding our plans loosely and saying, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:15, ESV).

And it also means remembering that Jesus is more than someone who settles disputes. The man in verse 13 wanted Jesus to fix his inheritance problem. But Jesus came for something far greater. He came to free us from sin, from greed, from the lie that life is found in what we own. He came to give us true life—life eternal.

This parable confronts us with a sobering question: are we living for bigger barns, or are we living to be rich toward God? Our possessions will one day be left behind. But Christ offers us a treasure that can never be taken away.

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Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

Summary of my sermon, based on Matthew 25:19-21. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on January 26, 2025.

This is the final message in our series on stewardship, and I want us to reflect on where we began. Back in Colossians 1:15–17, we saw that everything is God’s. Jesus is described as the firstborn of all creation—not meaning He was created first, but that He holds authority over everything. He’s supreme over all.

And when we understand that, it changes how we live. It changes how we see everything we have. There’s a wrong way to respond to this truth—idolatry. Worshiping the created things instead of the Creator. Or thinking we can bargain with God, trade with Him like we’re equals—“God, I’ll give you this if you give me that.” That’s ridiculous, because everything already belongs to Him. Romans 11 says, From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

So we defined stewardship this way: bringing glory to God through the careful and responsible management of what He has entrusted to us. That includes our gifts, our time, our resources, our lives. And the key passage that shaped this whole series was 1 Peter 4:10–11. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Last week, we looked at Ecclesiastes 3 and Isaiah 46. The idea that time just “happens” to us doesn’t hold up when we realize God is the one directing it. He holds time in His hands. He’s sovereign over all of history and also the details of our lives. That challenged us to ask: are we stealing time from God? Are we giving too little? Or maybe giving too much, and neglecting the other good things He’s given us to enjoy?

So today, to close the series, we’re going to look at where stewardship is heading. And for that, we turn to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. Now, this parable is part of a much bigger section in Matthew where Jesus is teaching about His second coming. It’s His final discourse—His last big teaching block—and it begins with the disciples asking, “When will these things happen? What are the signs of your return?”

Jesus does answer that question. He talks about the signs—tribulation, the Gospel reaching all nations, the Abomination of Desolation—but then He says in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the exact day or hour. Not the angels, not even the Son, but only the Father.

So Jesus shifts the focus. Instead of just looking for signs, He wants us to be ready. And that’s where our parable comes in. It’s a picture of a man going on a journey, entrusting his property to his servants—five talents to one, two to another, and one to another, each according to their ability.

Now let’s pause and talk about what a “talent” is. It’s hard to pin down. Some say it’s a large sum of money, others give dollar estimates that range from thousands to millions. But a safe estimate is to compare it to wages. If one talent is roughly two years’ wages, then we’re talking about $70,000 per talent, give or take. That means the one with five talents received about $350,000. The point is—it was a lot.

And this parable teaches us a few critical truths about stewardship. First, because it’s set in the context of Jesus’ return, we realize stewardship is eschatological. In other words, how we manage what God has given us is shaped by the fact that Jesus is coming again. We don’t know when, so we should live ready—always managing what we have with that day in mind.

Second, we see that each servant was given according to ability. That doesn’t mean the one with more is necessarily more capable. We see this in the world all the time—wealth passed down from previous generations, not always to people who know how to handle it. I shared the story of the Nut Rage incident in Korea. Someone with lots of wealth and power, clearly more than they could handle. So the point here is not how much we have, but what we do with what we’ve been given.

Because when we look at the two servants who invested their talents, the master’s commendation to both was exactly the same. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” So God’s not looking for a certain amount of return. He’s looking for faithfulness.

But then there’s the third servant. The one who buried his talent. He had a distorted view of his master. “I knew you to be a hard man,” he said. And that fear led him to do nothing. And here’s what we need to see: a distorted view of God’s character will lead to unfaithfulness. It gives us excuses. But the master responds by calling him wicked and lazy. He didn’t expect a big return—but at the very least, he could have earned interest. But this servant didn’t even try.

That’s why knowing God’s character matters. And it’s why right doctrine matters. Because churches and believers who twist God’s character tend to stop being fruitful. We see that in churches that have embraced worldly ideologies. I mentioned one pastor who claimed Jesus would say, “Blessed are those who end pregnancies.” That’s a gross distortion of God’s heart, and that church has been rapidly shrinking for decades. Because you distort who God is, and people stop being transformed.

So what do we do about that? We gather kindling. Remember that from the first message? Kindling are the little pieces of wood that start the fire. We gather kindling when we read Scripture, pray, worship—those spiritual disciplines that help us know God.

And we do that in community. Growth happens in community. That’s why our church prioritizes Growth Groups. Hebrews 10 says we should stir one another up to love and good works—not neglecting to meet, but encouraging one another all the more as we see the Day approaching.

Now I know this is a different approach to stewardship. Most sermons on stewardship talk about money—about tithing. But stewardship is bigger than that. Tithing, especially the 10% rule, isn’t really a New Testament command. What God wants is generosity. 2 Corinthians 9:7–8 says each one should give what he’s decided in his heart—not under compulsion—for God loves a cheerful giver.

So the point of this whole series has been to give that bigger context. Stewardship isn’t just about what we put in the offering plate. It’s about how we live, because everything belongs to God—our time, our resources, our very lives.

And the more we know Him—the more we seek Him through His Word and through His people—the more faithfully we’ll steward what He’s entrusted to us. And then, when Christ returns, we will hear those beautiful words: Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.

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Everything is God’s

Summary of my sermon, based on Colossians 1:15-17. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on January 12, 2025.

I once heard a story about a golf pro working at a prestigious course. His job was to help golfers improve their game, offering tips and instruction. One day, he was assigned to assist a Middle Eastern prince. The prince was so grateful for the help that, before leaving, he told the golf pro, “I am very grateful for your help, and I would like to give you a present. Please, tell me what you desire.”

The golf pro was used to receiving tips—usually a $5 bill, maybe a $20 if someone was feeling generous. But asking for money from a prince seemed tacky. Unsure of what to request, he blurted out, “Well, I guess a new golf club would be nice.” The prince nodded and left.

Days passed. Then weeks. The golf pro figured the prince had forgotten. Until one day, he received an unexpected invitation to dine with the prince. A limousine picked him up and took him to one of the finest restaurants in town. After an incredible meal, the prince handed him an envelope. Inside was the title deed to an entire golf club—Pine Valley Golf Club—with his name as the owner!

The prince hadn’t just given him a golf club; he had given him an entire golf course. This story illustrates how the generosity of the wealthy operates on a different level. But as believers, we know that God is far greater than any earthly prince. He is the Creator and owner of all things.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (ESV)

Jesus is supreme over all creation. The term “firstborn” here does not mean He was created, but rather, it signifies His rank and authority. He is before all things, and everything exists through Him and for Him.

Yet, despite knowing this, we often struggle with truly surrendering everything to God. We say we trust Him, but deep down, we try to maintain control over certain areas of our lives. This struggle can manifest in two ways: idolatry and negotiation.

Idolatry happens when we make anything more important than God. It can be obvious, like worshiping wealth, power, or fame. But sometimes, even good things like family, career, or ministry can become idols if they take God’s place in our hearts. As Isaiah 44:17 warns, “And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’” (ESV)

Negotiation, on the other hand, is when we try to manipulate God. Like Manoah in Judges 13, who wanted to learn the angel’s name to gain power, we sometimes try to bargain with God—offering something in exchange for blessings. But Romans 11:35 reminds us, “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (ESV)

Instead of trying to control God, we should focus on stewardship. 1 Peter 4:10-11 encourages us to use our gifts wisely, serving others for God’s glory. Rather than seeking personal gain, we should be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to us.

The golf pro expected a mere club, but he received an entire course. How much more will God, who owns everything, provide for those who fully trust in Him? Let’s lay down our idols, stop negotiating, and embrace the abundant blessings found in surrendering to Christ.

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Treasures in Heaven – Part 3

Summary of my sermon, based on 2 Corinthians 9:6-8. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on January 21, 2024.

As we conclude our series on “Treasures in Heaven,” we return to the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-24, a passage that forms part of the Sermon on the Mount. This passage centers on the instruction to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV). Through these words, Jesus calls us to a life of generosity, encouraging us to avoid the pitfalls of stinginess and jealousy, and helping us steer clear of the idol of materialism.

Last week, we explored the concept of tithing, a practice rooted in the Mosaic Law, where the Israelites were required to dedicate ten percent of their harvest as holy to the Lord. This act of tithing, which involved multiple offerings, meant that the total giving was closer to twenty-five percent. Yet, with the coming of Christ, we understand that we are no longer bound by these Old Testament laws. Instead, Christians have embraced the principle of tithing, guided by Proverbs 3:9, which instructs us to “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.” While not a requirement, this principle serves as a spiritual discipline—a way for us to reorder our priorities and grow in our faith.

Matthew 6:21 reminds us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our giving is a reflection of our heart’s priorities, and it acknowledges that everything we have belongs to God. This is the essence of stewardship—managing God’s resources responsibly. As we discussed last week, it is helpful to shift our perspective from asking, “How much do I give?” to “How much do I dare keep?”

Today, we delve into one of the New Testament’s most profound teachings on giving found in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. Many of you might be familiar with verse 7, “God loves a cheerful giver.” While this passage is often associated with tithing, its true focus is on the heart behind our giving.

Paul, who planted the church in Corinth, had a tumultuous relationship with the Corinthians. After moving on to Ephesus, he had to address numerous issues within the Corinthian church, from sexual immorality to divisions and social snobbery. In 2 Corinthians, Paul found himself defending his apostleship against those who sought to undermine his authority. Yet, despite these challenges, Paul continued to encourage the Corinthians in their commitment to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their pledge to support the struggling Christians in Judea. He had boasted to the Macedonians about their readiness to give, but knowing the Corinthians’ history, Paul wisely decided to send some of his co-workers ahead to ensure they were prepared. He writes, “But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be” (2 Corinthians 9:3).

Paul then uses a powerful agrarian metaphor to drive home his point: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). This metaphor, drawn from the everyday life of an agrarian society, emphasizes the principle of generosity. Just as a farmer who sows generously reaps a bountiful harvest, so too will those who give generously experience the blessings of God.

However, it’s important to clarify that Paul is not preaching a prosperity gospel. He is not suggesting that giving will lead to material wealth. Instead, Paul is teaching that the harvest we reap is one of righteousness and increased generosity, not financial gain. He writes, “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).

Paul’s message also touches on the element of trust inherent in giving. Just as sowing seed involves a risk, so too does giving. We trust that God will use our resources—whether financial, time, or effort—to accomplish His purposes. This trust is captured beautifully in the words of missionary Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Elliot’s sacrifice and the perseverance of his widow, Elisabeth, in continuing their mission work after his death, serve as powerful examples of the transformative power of giving and faith.

The motivation behind our giving is crucial. Paul advises, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Our giving should be voluntary, not driven by guilt or pressure. It should spring from a heart of gratitude and a desire to glorify God. As Paul concludes, “For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12).

In the end, God’s grace abounds to those who give. Paul reassures us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). When we give with the right heart, trusting in God’s provision, we participate in His work and experience the joy of seeing His kingdom grow.