We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 7 verses 1 through 10
for this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of God, most high
Met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the
Kings and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.
First, his name means, king of righteousness.
Then also king of Salem, meaning, king of peace, without
father, mother, or genealogy having neither beginning of
days, nor end of life. But resembling, the Son of God,
he remains As a priest forever. Now consider how great this man
was even Abraham, the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunger to
him. The sons of Levi, who received
the Priestly office have a command according to the law to
collect a 10th from the people that is from their brothers and
sisters though, they have all descended from Abraham but one
without this lineage collected a tent from Abraham and blessed.
The one who had the promises without a doubt, the inferior is
blessed by the Superior. In the one case, men who will
die receive a 10th. But in another case scripture
testifies that Lives and in a sense, Levi himself who receives
a tenth has paid attend through Abraham for he was still within
his ancestor. When Melchizedek met him, this
is the word of God. How many of you remember?
The character called the most interesting man in the world, by
remember that guy? Yeah, some of y'all.
Okay? All y'all people fast-forward
through beer commercials, I guess he was featured in the
Dos. Equis beer commercials almost
started by showing one of the commercials, but I figured maybe
I shouldn't show a beer commercial.
Marshall. But it can't be much worse than
the office and we've done that before.
But anyway, so if you never saw the commercials, each commercial
was just a narrator saying a bunch of absurd.
But supposedly true, things about this fictional character
called the most interesting man in the world.
They're very similar to maybe some of the old Chuck Norris
jokes. You know, you had grown up kind
of reminded me of that so these are some of the things they
would say he once ran a marathon because it was on his way.
And of course, they say this with this narrator, you know,
voice, that's a lot better than mine.
And here's another one. If opportunity knocks and he's
not home opportunity weights and the last one, once a
rattlesnake, bit him after five days of excruciating pain, the
snake finally died. So he would always each
commercial would have a few of these clips and then it would
end by panning to the actual Most Interesting Man himself
this actor, you know, playing them and he would look directly
at the camera and he would say, I don't always drink beer but
when I do, I prefer Dos Equis and the idea here.
You know, it's this mysterious larger-than-life character.
You don't know much about this guy but he's like large and in
charge and you know, it and the idea here is that if this dude
prefers Dos Equis He's then you better also, prefer Dos Equis
because you're not near as interesting and mysterious and
as in charge as this guy. And so, when I was reading
through, and even study in this character, in the scriptures of
Melchizedek, the most interesting man in the world is
kind of what my where my brain went.
I know y'all probably had more like, spiritual things to think
about, but that's what I thought, I'd like this milk is
it at guy is an extremely mysterious character.
It's like he is, so just in charge, that he can just show.
Up on the scene and leave you get no background.
He is one of the most mysterious characters in all of scripture
and what this has done is it's left a lot of people up to their
own imaginations, to try to figure out who this guy really
is. The reality is no one really
knows but regardless of who this person is, what is clear is that
he was a powerful figure and the preacher of Hebrews is going to
use this mysterious character. To further affirm the supremacy
of Christ, if this mysterious character Melchizedek is greater
than the respected patriarch Abraham and if he is of a
Priestly order greater than the levitical one that was revered
and honored for centuries been how much greater is Jesus, who
is of the priesthood that Melchizedek could only shadow.
So good morning again. Church does something smell.
Okay, this somebody microwave a cup because those black cups
make noise. Can you go check?
Okay, it was Andrew. All right, cool.
Well I mean I'm assuming nothing is on fire.
Is the microwave smell bad? Or is it out here?
Okay, somebody so heads up don't like those little black cup
state do something and so I need to get a sign up.
Yeah it multiple people have done it just not on a Sunday
morning so Andrew. Over to at distracting us.
So yeah, so yeah. Anyways, that's the smell,
everything's good. So at least we didn't cut the
fire cables and we were replacing a light recently, so
alright. Yeah.
Alright. I was saying, good morning.
So I was like, getting through that to get through my intro
like I could smell it, but I was like, let me get through this.
All right, anyways, so good morning.
My name is Joel. If you don't know me, I have the
privilege of serving as one of the Pastors here.
So, if I ever got a chance to meet you, I'd love to do.
So, we'll just let that. All right, we've all acknowledge
the burning. I'm going to keep smelling it.
But was it a black cup? Is that?
Yeah, yeah. Don't microwave those.
I told them those little cups, don't microwave them.
So if you need to heat something up, there is mugs in the Shelf.
They work better. So that's not Andrews fault.
I litter and well, I'll literally.
We're now we're back to the Garden.
So blaming the spouse. So I was trying to keep this
sermon shorter. There's like five minutes of it.
Literally this week, I'll take ownership this week.
My wife did that. And I said, I need to put a sign
there. That says don't microwave the
little black cups but I didn't so that's what happens.
We are in Hebrews chapter 7 so if you are not familiar, we
typically preach expositionally through the text and we are
doing that this week through Hebrews chapter 7 verses 1
through 10. That's what that means.
If you don't know it just means we allow the text to kind of
dictate what the meaning of the sermon is.
And so that's what we're doing today.
So Hebrews 7, 1 through 10, if you've been with us during our
time and Hebrews, you will remember that our author or
preacher as we call him. Sometimes he has been unfolding,
how Jesus is Better than all these things that the listeners
once held in high esteem or value?
Jesus is better than the old priesthood order.
He's better than the old Covenant, he's better than the
animal sacrifices and what we're getting to is the point in his
letter. We're really he's kind of been
building to this. He's talked about how Jesus is
better than angels and Moses but he's really been building to
present to us Jesus as the high priest and so he's hinted at it.
But now from chapter 7 all the way into chapter 10, he's going
to be unfolding what this Like but all of this starts with this
mysterious figure named Melchizedek in our text that you
heard read a moment ago, you might have been a little
confused but our original listener knew that the readers
the listeners of the sermon. The original author knew that
the listeners of this sermon or reading this, letter would have
known more about Mackenzie deck than we do.
And so before we even really dive into Hebrews chapter 7, we
need to kind of Zoom back a little bit and see what story
he's referencing and the main thing.
Thing about Melchizedek is Genesis chapter 14.
So we'll have some verses on the screen.
I'm going to give you a little bit of contact so few chapters
earlier. There's a little bit of
background for us and Genesis chapter 12 in the midst of a
very corrupt, Humanity. God calls a man named Abram or
sometimes referred to as Abraham later in his life and he tells
Abraham, hey, I'm going to bless you and you are going to be a
father of many nations, leave your land.
And so he kind of does this and start some this little journey
and then Couple chapters later in chapter 14 is where we get
this story about Abraham meeting Melchizedek.
So there's a lot going on in the chapter, I'm going to do a
little bit of summary for you. Basically, there are nine
different kingdoms that are at War.
It's kind of like this localized World War, there's five
kingdoms, that Allied a fight against four.
Other kingdoms, all these weird names, you can go read it later.
What happens is the Four Kings win the battle against the five.
And one of the five kings that was Defeated was the kingdom of
Sodom. Now what happens here in Genesis
13 lat move to Sodom lot is Abraham's nephew.
So Abraham is kind of out of this Scurry but then lot because
Sodom was captured gets also captured lot all his people that
are with him and all his possessions.
And so Abraham hears about this and he's like, all right we're
going on a rescue mission. Now he gets we're told he has
318 trained men. So it's those three hundred
eighteen men against these five kings that have just won this
battle. It's these four other kings
right now. I think the Four Kings won the
battle against the five, but either way, he's going against
these four Empires and somehow he defeats all of these four
Kings, we're not told how it happens.
We're just told he wins the battle and then the story picks
up with Abraham back on his way from this battle in Genesis 14.
I'm going to read for us from her seventh day. 17 through 20,
the versus will be on the screen.
It says, after Abraham returned from defeating kedorlaomer a
practice that like 40 times and the Kings who were with him, him
the king of Sodom. So one of the Kings he actually
just rescued, not that wasn't his purpose, his purposes rescue
lat, but Sodom was one of the ones that was rescued as well.
He goes out to meet him in the shop, a valley.
That is the Kings Valley. And here's where I'm a kills it
at just shows up Melchizedek king of Salem brought out Bread
and Wine. He was a priest to God most
high, he blessed him. So he's blessing Abraham.
And he says, Abram is blessed by God, most high creator of Heaven
and Earth, and blessed, be God. Most high who has handed over
your enemies to you and Abram gave him.
Milk is attack a tenth of everything.
So no warning or background. Melchizedek just gets dropped
into this story and it's very interesting because if you've
read much of the Old Testament, the scriptures value genealogy
and connection their big story points.
But here we get nothing, he just swoops in, he gives Abraham
Bread and Wine which Surely this also probably meant an entire
feast and He blesses him and then just as quickly he vanishes
away and we literally never hear from him.
Again in the biblical story. The only thing we get is a small
quote from Psalm 110, that will see a little bit later in.
Genesis 14 to look a little bit closer at this.
We are told a few things about Mike is attack the things that
are important. First of all we're told he was a
king and a priest which was very unusual.
Now, this story is presented. Well before, The temple system
and the Royal line of kings, and Israel was ever even thought of
right. So, that's in the future.
But it's the, as if this idea of a priest and a king is
introduced to us in the narrative to get us to start
thinking that way, we're looking for someone to fulfill this role
of priest and King together in one person.
But if you keep reading the story, it never happens.
And even the different priests and kings that were separate
people in separate roles, they were really bad.
At it, the priest became corrupt the Kings became corrupt.
But Melchizedek is presented as a faithful priest king of God
most high. So he has this great character
but he Stoops down to bless Abraham.
He brings out Bread and Wine in a feast and He blesses Abraham,
he invokes the blessing from the one true God, most high for the
sake of Abraham. So he has some sense of
knowledge about the one true. God, the priest king Melchizedek
is in need of nothing from Abraham.
Rather he is coming to give to Abraham and then Abraham not out
of Duty, but purely out of gratitude for this blessing and
this Feast he gives a tithe or a tenth of the possessions to this
mysterious King and priest milk. Is it at culturally?
This would have signified that Abraham was giving his
Allegiance, and he was trusting, this King, it's why he refuses
to kind of do a deal with the king of Sodom, because he
doesn't trust him. It was at that milk is attack
needed the tithe to survive Melchizedek was self-sustaining.
Clearly he's this King priest who has all these possessions
and then it's it on a cursory reading.
Nook is attack is gone. The guy just comes and goes
later. In Psalm 110 we see this story
actually really just his name invoked and quoted Psalm 110 is
a Messianic Psalm Hebrews. The author has already quoted at
multiple times, it's where he says today.
You are my son. The Lord said to my Lord, and
it's a song about the one who rules and Reigns, and in it, the
Lord swears an oath that this person who's going to be the
Messiah would be after the pattern of Melchizedek.
The idea that he would be Eternal, okay?
And so that's all we know about my kids attack but that's all
the background. We need to know to.
Now go to Hebrews chapter 7 and see what our preacher is going
to do with this person of Melchizedek.
So let's step back into today's passage Hebrews.
Even let me read the first couple verses again, it says for
this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of God, most high Met
Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the
king. So he's talking about the story
from Genesis, 14 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything,
okay? Now before we even continue to
zoom in a little bit deeper one question, always, I feel like
comes to mind. We're talking about milk is
attack. Which is who is this guy, right?
Like we're like, whose milk is attack.
Some people down through the years, have had their own ideas,
something he was shim, one of the three sons of Noah.
If you do the math he would have still been alive, he was one of
the great, great, great, great great.
Something ancestor of Abram, he would have still been alive, he
lived a long time so that's one possibility.
Other people see this as a clear pre-incarnate Christ coming and
showing up to Abraham and blessing him as a priest king.
That's also I think another valid View.
And another one is that simply is a historical figure.
Sure. He's one of these kings that are
ruling and reigning during this time.
And he's a priest and somehow he has knowledge of the one true
God and he's presented in the text the way he is because he is
a foreshadowing or a type of Christ.
Okay. So those are all I think a few
valid options. The reality is none of us really
know the text tells us what's important and that's it.
I think his mysterious like his mystery is a part of the point
because the focus, both in Genesis 14 and especially here
in our Hebrews text, Is not on who this person is and his
identity. But rather on who he reminds us
of and what he points us to. And that's what Hebrews versus
chapter 7 verse 2 and 3 explicitly, tell us, he begins
unpacking this Melchizedek. He says first, his name means
king of righteousness, then also king of Salem OR Shalom.
We might hear that interpretation meaning, king of
peace, without father, mother or genealogy, having neither
beginning. Beginning of days nor end of
life but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever
and so it's very clear that when talking about Melchizedek the
author of Hebrews does not want us to get to use a Kevin Perry
word wrapped around the axle of stole that from him because he
says that all the time. He doesn't want us to get
wrapped over the actual about who is Melchizedek.
Rather he doesn't want us to worry about figuring out that
mystery. But to see through that lens of
what it points us to He first says that Melchizedek resembles
the Son of God. Now I think this is super
important because I think it's easy for us to think, like
Melchizedek. And the old system was plan a
and then Jesus was Plan B. Now, he says milk is attack
resembles Jesus, right? So it's not as if Jesus is
resembling Melchizedek, it's the other way around.
Now, kiss the deck is like Jesus.
The plan is always been Jesus, he's the starting point.
Jesus is the real thing now. Is it because only a shadow.
So, even in a passage this is highlighting the superiority of
Melchizedek over the levitical Earthly priesthood and over
Abraham. But there is no mistaking.
That the ultimate point is that Jesus is better.
The author also reminds us that the named Melchizedek means king
of righteousness and also king of peace or shalom.
Ancient tradition also says that the Salem that he was King over
as none other than what eventually came to be called
Jerusalem Salem, right? This is the place where the
Tabernacle of God's presence. Dwelt.
This is where true peace and righteousness could be found.
And so these are all foreshadowing that Not only was
he the king of peace and righteousness but he was
eternal. The text does not tell us who
his father or mother was when he was born or when he Died.
Now, does this mean that Melchizedek literally never
actually died or was born? Well, we don't know again.
If he was a pre-incarnate Christ figure, maybe not.
But if this is a real person, he did live and die but the
narrative the text does not present on that way, which again
was very unusual for Genesis. And so in all of this, the
preacher is getting ready to set up his argument.
That the Earthly priesthood. And the Royal lineage of Kings
was never meant to be the final thing that brought humans back.
Into God's presence. We need a better priest king.
To make sure his here is grasp. This he goes further to point
out that Melchizedek is greater than both Abraham and the
levitical priests Li line. Excuse me.
So Abraham was a patriarch that was revered.
An honor, the levitical priest Li line was also revered and
honored but our preacher points out that Melchizedek is better.
He does this through some logical arguments, we're not
going to read through it again. Basically he says, Hey, Abraham
actually tied, Tithes to Melchizedek, okay.
And this came from the idea of tithe came to fruition when the
nation of Israel was actually established.
So this is years later there were Twelve Tribes.
One of them, the levite tribe received, no land.
And land in this culture was what allowed you to live and
have sustainability and resources.
So, instead of them getting land, what they get is from each
of the other tribes, they get 10%.
And so, they were selected to serve on behalf of the people
and it was this Duty. It's a command because the
Needed to serve the people, and the people needed them to serve
them as priest. That's where all the priest was
chosen from, and so the people gave this tithe for them to live
off of. But with Melchizedek, it's not a
command. This is before any laws were
established. He just freely gives a tithe
Abraham does. We're not told why it's 10%, but
it gives that 10%. And, and the text says, even
more in a sense, Levi, who was technically in the loins of
Abraham, I think is the literal translation there, and in a
communal culture. This It made sense, but
basically Levi in a sense through his family is also
tithing to Melchizedek. And so he said, hey, the one who
is tithing? He is given to someone greater
than who they are. That's his argument.
And for this culture, in those people, it made sense, okay?
On top of that, Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and the author
says, clearly, the one blessing, the other is, the one of Greater
significance. Okay.
So milk is attack is great. We see that in the text, but
what does that do for us? Okay.
Do we take away from this weird dude, named Melchizedek and his
tithe conversation. When you read this as a lot
about Ty, maybe our takeaway in our application today as you all
need to give 10% to the church. That's a joke.
I'll get there in a minute. Just last night, I read a
headline that a mega church was being sued because they force
their staff to tithe, 10%. I've seen other churches for
staff to sign things that pledges to do the same to give
10%. Yeah.
Well, I was right. Even if we don't force Force
others, to sign commitments, to give 10% of income.
I have seen passages like this and others in the, in the
scriptures like Genesis 14 used to say that this idea of a 10%
tithe is binding on Christians today.
And unfortunately I think that's missing the point of passages
like these. Okay.
We are called to contribute and hold everything we have with an
open hand but what that looks like that's different from
person to person. And as your heart, your call to
give cheerfully, we are not under the law.
So, a 10% tide is not required for Christians, and if you
really want to be under the rule, go talk to Joe Wallace.
I'll tell you, the percentage is closer to what 20-something it
depends 2030. Yeah, it's something crazy.
So if you really want to do it will go there, and I'll take
your money. But so, yeah.
So, so there's a lot of different times.
I mean, depend on the scholar you ask, but it's definitely
more than 10%. And here's the thing, the
ultimate Point here, the tithing is something like we get in our
culture, kind of caught up on the play.
Ain't here is not the tithe. The point is not even actually
the identity of Melchizedek or even Abraham or Levi, the tide
used here is only a point to prove about the superiority of
Christ. Over the Earthly priesthood.
Okay, let me kind of flush this out a little bit.
How does the tithe point us to Jesus the tide under the old
Covenant? See the reality is if you think
that all God requires of you to be right with him is to give 10%
of your paycheck. You're not really listening to
the words of Jesus. You're not really reading the
scriptures. Jesus does not call us to give
up 10%. He calls us to give up our whole
lives. But even that is not because
he's of the old priesthood order and he needs our 10% to survive
or our whole life to survive. It is because we need it to
survive. That's why he says, if you don't
lose your life, you can't find it.
The one who tries to gain the whole world will lose their
soul. That's why he says, if you don't
forsake all to follow me, you can't be my disciple.
C for humans to be in, right? Standing with God.
It's not a 10% tithe or a bunch of works or going to church
every Sunday or whatever, for us to be in, right?
Standing with God. Every ounce of, our being must
be fully surrendered to him at all times.
We were each created to be that priest-king, figure to rule and
reign with God as His Image bears in the world and to take
that as priests and spread that to the entire world.
But we have all failed. We have all rejected that and
going our own way. There is none of us who have
given 100% of who we are to God's kingdom.
And so this passage is not ultimately about the need for a
tithe. It is about the need for a high
priest who has entered the most holy place to atone for the sins
of humanity. Here's of this sermon would have
been intimately familiar with the way the sacrificial system
in the economy worked? They understood tithing as both
a religious and economical requirements.
They saw it as this Exchange in order for Earthly priest, to
bless the people and intercede for them.
On behalf of God, they had to then support and tied to them.
It was this give and take, you give me the tithe.
I'll give you the blessing. I'll go make the sacrifices on
your behalf. The blessings were a response to
the commitment of tithe. But under the order of
Melchizedek Abraham gives tithe not because Melchizedek is in
need, not to earn some blessing as this transaction, but because
he had already been freely blessed milk.
Is it that comes out of nowhere? And just lays out the table with
bread and wine and gives a blessing.
He doesn't demand anything from Abraham.
Under the Eternal priesthood. The order is swapped, this is
how it is. Under the new Having it.
There is nothing that we could ever do.
No amount of money that we could ever give.
No amount of good works. We could do no amount of
sacrifices. We could offer.
That could manipulate God to bless us.
All of our righteous works are filthy rags.
In the sight of God. We need a priest king mediator.
And that's what Melchizedek points us to the biblical
narrative is always looking this priest, king figure, a king who
has the authority and resources, but also one who will crawl down
and intercede for the people as a priest and this is ultimately
fulfilled in Jesus. The Son of God according to the
order of Melchizedek, he was the word, a creation always existing
uncreated and eternal, yet this word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He was the king who lived as a
peasant. So he is not like a high priest
who doesn't understand our weakness.
He is a king who spoke with authority.
You know what he quotes when he's talking Into the religious
leaders. He quotes Psalm 110 claiming to
be the Son of God, this Messianic fulfillment and when
he went around he lived like a priest, he healed people of
their diseases. So they could be in the presence
of God in the temple. He was restoring them to, right
relationship with each other because diseases kept them on
the fringes. But even more than that, the Son
of God had authority to forgive people of their ultimate
disease, their sin And he's dealing with that.
And with his death. He gives us the greatest gift
ever not because we gave him 10% and it was his duty to bless us.
It was this transaction. No rather.
It was because he wanted to bring us back into the family of
God for his own glory and of his own free will.
Like Melchizedek. In the upper room, he lays out a
feast of bread and wine. But the bread and wine that he
offers us is his body and blood and he says, come feast and
you'll never hunger again, you who are thirsty, come and drink
without price. There is no learning of this.
It is a free gift and all the curses of the sin that we
deserve, because we broke the Covenant terms, they were all
placed on. His back and he upholds, the end
of the Covenant by willingly dying.
He is the sacrifices, the theme all the way back in Genesis 15
to Abraham and Isaac, he is the one who crawls up on the cross,
not out of obligation, not out, of Duty, not out of command.
But out of love, out of delight for the joy set before him, he
endured and then with authority as a king and with empathy, like
a priest, he hangs on the cross and he says, father Forgive
them. For they know not what they do.
He trusts his life to his father.
He breathes his last breath. He's laid in a cold dark tomb.
But in in verse 8 of our text today, we're told that in the
one case men who will die receive a 10th.
But in the other case scripture testifies that he lives, this is
not an Earthly priest who dies in The needs.
Another descendant to come and take his office.
Jesus is the Risen final king of righteousness and peace.
He is the final risen priest who today, intercedes at the right
hand of the father, on your behalf.
And through his life, death burial, Resurrection.
He gives us his very best, God has not withheld, any good thing
from you and the proof of that is that it gave us his only son
right up front. We might not always see the good
that he has in our lives but we can trust him.
He prepares for us a feast of blessing based on his work.
Not ours says, come through me, you don't have to earn it to sit
at his table. And even more mysterious than
Melchizedek is the mystery of the Gospel, as Paul calls it in
Ephesians, the mystery. That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save Sinners. You can never give enough to buy
this. You can never do anything to
earn it. It's good news.
That's why it's called good. It's the gospel it's based on
free grace alone and Jesus frees us from the curse of the law.
He fulfills the covet Covenant. We are now no longer under the
obligations of the old system. We are free indeed.
All of the old Covenant, the tithe included it was just a
shadow of heavenly realities again not even just pointing
forward to but pointing back to what's always existed in the
Heavenly Realm. And will we begin to grasp this
when we like Abraham? Who after defeating all these
enemy Kings? Because it it comes in and make
sure he knows that is because God most high gave you the
victory. We don't beat our sin in our own
self or our own flesh, or by our own Merit.
The enemy of Sindh was defeated by Christ and when we recognize
that that God has worked in her life.
This begins to transform us. Not based on duty, not based on
command but we say, Here's my life.
It is all yours because I've seen what happens when I try to
take control. We surrender everything, not
just 10%, that's weak. We give our resources gives
money, whatever it is. And this is how to trust and
gratitude when we realize that God did not withhold, his only
son from us but gave him to us to redeem us.
This releases our grip on things of this age now, this doesn't
mean you literally give everything away.
But it could mean that you give more way than you think you're
supposed to. And it does mean this, let me
explain this. Like this means that everything
we have is to be used for the kingdom and that can look a
million different ways. We need to get a little more
creative than just writing a check to the church.
Okay? Here's an example.
I use like like the things were given.
Okay, I believe they're called, do two things with them.
Glorify God by both enjoying them and sharing them, so
something you just enjoy it. Like, enjoy a good vacation or
something. Like if you have the means to do
that, that's awesome. Enjoy it.
Teach your kids to enjoy good gifts, but not to hang on to it
so tightly that were never willing to share it.
An example might be if you have a place of your own to live in
that home is God's. Not a 10% Corner over here.
Like let's make our little Shrine to God of hearing him.
This 10% know, like the whole thing.
It's all God. So so what I say, fix it up,
paint it, renovate it, make it beautiful, make it a home where
it's, there's rest and there's laughter, and there's joy and
your kids experience. This place of Shalom.
This place of Peace. That's, that's beautiful or you.
And your roommate, your family, whatever your situation is.
But it's also how with the Open hand, you got that new paint job
and you host community group and some kid comes dragging a pin
down the wall. I'm not slapping their hand out
and I might tell him stop, you know, that's why I tell my kids
hey take care of stuff, Stuart it.
But if the walls get marked up, it's okay, it's alright.
And that goes for anything, we've been giving our cars, our
money, our careers, our gifts, these are all good gifts, that
God has given you to freely. Enjoy, and then also to share,
not out of compulsion or duty, but out of love and Delight
going to look different for everyone, that's why we need
Community. That's why we need the spirit,
we have needs as a church. We invite you to partake in what
God's doing, right? I mean there's principles about
caring for pastors and taking care of things.
That's awesome. Like we could talk about those.
When we get to those expositionally, the point is you
that needs to be freely. It's very clear.
Paul says, out of cheerful, not out of compulsion and I mean
that so much that I say, if it's a compulsion stop until that
heart is figured out. Like, I mean that go do some
work, we've got let's figure that out, right?
Going to look different for everybody.
Put a number on it and make a new law is easy.
That's what that ten percent comes from God's Not after your
money, he's after your heart. I believe that's why we're not
giving hard and fast guidelines. We can't reduce Union with
Christ to a 10% tithe and again if that's where you want to
start. That's awesome.
There is nothing wrong with that.
I'm not demeaning that the Jesus is way bigger than any of, this
is what I'm getting at, okay? And at the end of the day, it's
all of Grace we can only freely give when we realize what we've
been freely given and for some people that might be point five
percent like it's okay. At the end of the day, it's all
of Grace Philippians tells us, God will provide every need for
us in accordance with the riches of Jesus.
We believe that there is a wealth of treasure at his feet.
There is a feast, awaiting us. So, before you ever start
thinking, what can I do for God, what can I give to him?
First, I implore you to fully receive the feast that's offered
you in the gospel. No Christ and him crucified.
No, the free gift of Grace, offered you in the gospel.
And when we begin to grasp that, then this fruit of the spirit
will produce and you a spirit of gratitude and selflessness, so
go and be free in Christ live. In light of that truth.
Jesus is a high priest of the order of Melchizedek and his
life is given freely to you at no cost and for no price, he is
so much better than a tithe five.