December 8, 2025 • 22 mins
The rush of the season tells us to hurry, upgrade, and control. We chose a different rhythm. Advent invites us to slow down and remember that generosity doesn’t start with our wallets or our willpower; it starts with God giving himself in love. From there, everything changes—our identity, our pace, and the way we hold our resources, relationships, and plans.
We walk through the story of Mary to show how availability matters more than abundance. In a world marked by fear, scarcity, and fragile status, her yes is a surrender that opens space for God’s generosity to take shape in real life. That same posture is available to us when we feel stretched thin. We also name the obstacles that shape our instincts: economic anxiety, consumer pressure, individualism, and distrust of institutions. Rather than denying those, we ground giving in worship—giving to God through the community where we worship and serve—so generosity becomes participation in grace, not a transaction or image play.
Drawing from Paul’s words, we anchor the why of generosity in the incarnation: though Jesus was rich, he became poor so we could be rich in him. That vision reframes giving as formation. We practice sacred pauses, receive before we respond, and ask where we’ve closed our hands. Communion ties the themes together: a lowly birth, faithful love, and a God who still gives today. If you’ve felt pressure around money or mistrust around church, this conversation aims to free you into a posture of trust, openness, and practical love—financial, relational, and communal.
If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs a gentler Advent, and leave a review to help others find the message. Where is God inviting you to be available this week?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Madison Church Online.
I'm Steven Feith, lead pastor.
And it is the beginning ofAdvent.
And depending on your churchtradition, background, if you
have one or none, this seasonconjures up all sorts of
thoughts, feelings, emotions,experiences.
But for me, it happens to be oneof my favorite seasons of the
year.
(00:20):
I love it.
I don't love the snow and Idon't love the cold, but I love
football on the afternoon.
I love all the lights that aregoing on.
All three of my kids, all threeof them are born in December.
And so from the timeThanksgiving ends to New Year's,
we are just one big party at myhouse.
So if in two weeks I lookexhausted, I assure you very
(00:41):
much so.
I am.
But Advent is also a season, youknow, the tension then is that
it's to be a season where weslow down, where we wait, where
we pay attention to what God isdoing, even when it doesn't
quite make sense to us.
So this it's a tension that Ifeel with three birthdays and
Christmas and Thanksgiving andNew Year's to slow down.
(01:03):
And this year we're steppinginto Advent with a very
intentional focus as a church.
And I know that for many of us,when we hear variation on the
word give, giving, generosity,our minds immediately go to
money, which then leads us tofeelings of pressure or guilt, I
(01:27):
guess, depending on where you'refrom, guilt or pressure.
It's that not in your stomachfeeling that some of you have
right now.
I just want to encourage theroom to take a deep breath.
It's okay, it's not going to beterrible.
Because in this series, we aregoing to talk about generosity,
but we want to talk about realbiblical generosity.
It's going to take us threeweeks to explain what all that
(01:49):
means.
And this series isn't aboutpressure and we're not
fundraising, and it's notchecking a box of any sort.
This is about spiritualformation because biblical
generosity is about spiritualformation.
And so when we talk aboutmaturing in our faith and
growing to be like Christ, wetalk about generosity.
(02:11):
And so what Kyle is going totalk about next week, I'm going
to talk about this week and overthe course of this series is
becoming the kind of people, thekind of community that looks
just like Jesus and who cantrust God more than we trust our
resources and the people whoallow God to reshape our
relationships, not just withmoney, but our ideas of
ownership and our ideas of evensecurity.
(02:33):
And so Christmas is actually agreat time to do this.
Although I was advised to not dothis series over Christmas for
like the last decade, but Ifigured why not just go for it
this year?
Because this is the story of Godgiving us Himself.
This is the greatest act ofgenerosity the world has ever
seen, has ever experienced.
(02:54):
And so it is the perfect placefor us to deconstruct.
Deconstruct and rebuild what wethink generosity is and what
we've heard in the church orwhat we've heard growing up.
I want to lean into what theBible actually says about this
and what God shows us generosityis, not through his words, but
through his actions.
(03:15):
And so we're going to say itevery week.
We want something for you.
We don't want anything from youthroughout this whole series,
okay?
We want you to experience thekind of freedom and joy that
grows when we learn to give theway that God gives, which brings
us to the foundation of theentire series.
What we're going to come backto, our touch point, is that
generosity starts with God.
(03:36):
Before we ever consider what wemight give, we begin by
remembering what we alreadyreceived, what was already given
to us.
And the clearest picture of thatis in one of the most familiar
verses in the entire Bible, it'sJohn 3.16.
For this is how we know Godloved the world.
He gave.
(04:20):
So he is talking about heavenand the next life, but he's
saying God loved you so much tobring that life into this one
right here and now, not justthen and there.
In Jesus, God gives us access tothat life right now in the
middle of a messy world.
And T Wright puts it this way: He says, the story of the (04:37):
undefined
gospel, the story of Jesus, isthe story of how God became
king, not by sending a militaryleader or a distant message from
the sky, but by giving himselfin love.
And what that means for us todayis that God, the God who gives,
(04:58):
doesn't give halfway.
He doesn't give symbolically orsentimentally.
Jesus is God giving himselfcompletely, sacrificially, and
personally.
When we approach Christmas,we're reminded that God is
saying, I will not love you fromafar.
I'm going to be close.
(05:18):
You're going to experience mylove.
Jesus is God with us, God besideus, and God for us.
And so let's go to Luke chapterone, begin today our Advent
series with a familiar passage.
In the sixth month ofElizabeth's pregnancy, God sent
(05:39):
the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, avillage in Galilee, to a virgin
named Mary.
She was engaged to be married toa man named Joseph, a descendant
of King David.
Gabriel appeared to her andsaid, Greetings, favored woman,
the Lord is with you.
Confused and disturbed, Marytried to think what the angel
could mean.
(06:00):
Don't be afraid, Mary, the angeltold her, for you have found
favor with God.
And then you will conceive andgive birth to a son, and you
will name him Jesus.
He will be very great and willbe called the Son of the Most
High.
The Lord God will give him thethrone of his ancestor David,
and he will reign over Israelforever.
(06:21):
His kingdom will never end.
Mary asked the only question asane person would ask, but how
can this happen?
I am a virgin.
We hear these stories, thisparticular one, and it's
familiar for a lot of you.
It's familiar to me.
We didn't grow up going tochurch every week, but around
(06:42):
December, this story came up,either by people talking about
it, like friends or my familytalking about it.
This is a story we're familiarwith.
But for the early believers,this is shocking because let's
look at Mary's context (06:55):
living under the shadow of an
oppressive Roman Empire, withviolent soldiers in the streets,
taxes that crushed families, soyou didn't get to make ends
meet, crucifixions all over theplace, which displayed a
warning.
Do not cross us in any way,shape, or form.
(07:15):
And so people lived in constantfear and with absolutely almost
no power.
So there's Rome.
But within Rome, there'sIsrael's centuries of longing
for God to act.
And it had been hundreds ofyears since there was a prophet
speaking to these people.
They're beginning to wonder likeall of this, God, where are you?
(07:39):
Are you ever going to fulfillthose promises?
And that would have been hardfor anybody, but let's look at
Mary now.
A vulnerable young, poor person,a girl with no social standing
whatsoever.
She was unmarried.
She was going to be pregnant.
And in a world that was allshame and guilt and driven by
(08:02):
that, there were no laws toprotect her, no systems to
support her.
Mary wasn't a Christmas figurineas she is now in many of our
houses.
She was just a young girl whoselife could collapse at any
moment.
This is the world Jesus enters,unstable, anxious, fearful, and
(08:26):
longing.
God gives himself not to a worldthat has it together, but to a
world that is tired, uncertain,and stretched thin.
If you feel that way thismorning, God has given himself
to you in that situation and inthose circumstances.
And so, yes, generosity beginswith God.
(08:49):
And then Mary shows us howgenerosity begins to take root
in human life.
Because God's generosity, itdemands a response.
Now, she doesn't modelabundance.
We just went over that.
It's not like he picked a richone, a popular one, an affluent
one.
He picked Mary.
(09:10):
I'm going to make the argumentit wasn't because of her
abundance, but rather as heravailability.
Let's keep reading the story.
The angel answers her questions,the Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the MostHigh will overshadow you.
So the baby to be born will beholy, and you will be called the
Son of God.
What's more, your relativeElizabeth has become pregnant in
(09:32):
her old age.
People used to say she wasbarren, but she has conceived a
son and is now in her sixthmonth, for the word of God will
never fail.
And Mary responded, I am theLord's servant.
May everything you have saidabout me come true.
And then the angel left her.
God approaches Mary not becauseof abundance in her own life,
(09:57):
but her availability, herwillingness, her openness.
She doesn't understandeverything being asked of her,
but she places herself in God'shands.
It was her openness, not hercapacity, that makes her the
first participant in God'sgenerosity.
(10:17):
And when Mary says, Mayeverything you said about me
come true, she isn't expressingpassivity.
It's not like, well, okay, let'ssee if it comes true.
It's surrender.
She's releasing control.
And this is where generositybegins.
Not when something leaves yourhand, but when your heart says,
(10:38):
Here I am.
Let your word shape my life.
I'm open to you.
This is one of the mostimportant truths we could ever
learn about generosity, and thatis that generosity begins with
identity, not income.
Mary reminds us that generositydidn't begin with wealth.
(10:58):
It didn't start with margin.
It begins with a person like youor me responding to God, saying,
I am yours.
So generosity starts with God.
I believe it requires a responsefrom us, but I also want to
acknowledge there's a bigobstacle for all of us sitting
in the room, or if you'rewatching and listening online.
(11:19):
There's a lot of obstacles forus today.
If we're going to understandgenerosity the way that
Scripture intends us, the waythat God wants us to, we have to
acknowledge that we are carryinga lot of baggage with us this
morning.
We do not come to these passagesneutrally.
We're already formed by theworld that we grew up in, that
we live in now.
(11:40):
For many of us, economic anxietyshapes how we hear these
passages.
Everything costs more.
I get it.
I live in the same world you do.
I'm looking at the same groceryprices and filling my car up
with the same gas.
Money feels tight.
And because of that, many of usquietly think generosity is for
those who make more than I do.
And maybe that will be mesomeday, but it's certainly not
(12:02):
me today.
But let me remind you that theearliest Christians practiced
generosity with far less thanany of us in the room.
Because their security wasrooted in God and not their
circumstances.
Others of us are shaped byconsumerism, and that's this
constant pressure to get more,to upgrade more, to secure more,
(12:23):
and to protect what I have.
And so we think I'll be generouswhen I finally feel secure
enough, but security in ourculture, in the United States of
America, is a moving target.
It is a destination you willnever find or arrive at because
there's always gonna be anotherbill.
There's always gonna be anothermilestone, another, if I could
(12:45):
just Apple, Samsung, Google,it's gonna come out with a new
device that you just gotta have.
Our security doesn't come fromthose things, from consuming,
from building.
It comes from God's unchanginggenerosity, not the fluctuations
of our paychecks or the swingsin our economy.
And then there's individualism.
(13:07):
This is the idea that generosityis something that I practice
privately, independently, and onmy own terms.
And so we think I'll just giveprivately on my own and hear me
out, private giving is good,even beautiful.
But biblical generosity is notjust philanthropy and isolation,
it's participation in the lifeof God's people.
(13:29):
So in scripture, when we'relooking at the words in Greek
that translate as generosity orgiving to us, today these words
are grace and sharing andopen-handedness.
So when we're talking aboutgenerosity in the New Testament,
these are the words we'retalking about, and they point to
financial sharing.
(13:50):
But there's one other big one inthe room I haven't named yet.
And I think it's one that we allfeel, and that's institutional
skepticism, right?
There have been pastors who havemisused power.
It's got a jet or two, right?
A few churches that have chasedimage over their integrity.
So now a whole bunch of us, awhole bunch of us mistrust the
(14:14):
entire idea of giving to orthrough a church.
And let's be honest, thesuspicion is not just real, but
it's understandable.
But scripture offers us a moreprofound truth.
And that truth is that we don'tgive to an organization.
We give to God through thecommunity God places us.
When you give to Madison Church,it's not giving to an
(14:37):
organization, it's giving to Godthrough the community He has
placed you in.
I'll say something personallyhere, might surprise some of
you.
The primary way that Megan, mywife, and I practice our
financial generosity is bygiving to Madison Church.
And I know it's ironic becauseI'm on the payroll, okay?
But for me, my giving isn'tabout supporting an
(14:58):
organization.
It's about practicing generositythrough the community God has
placed me in.
It's about full participation inthis community.
Madison Church, you're myspiritual family.
This is the table where Iworship, the people I serve
alongside.
This is the mission I believeGod has entrusted us together.
(15:19):
And so for me, giving isn't ajob-related obligation.
It's a deep conviction, aspiritual discipline, an
expression of trust, and how Godcontinues to form faith in me.
Generosity is worship, it's nota cosmic transaction.
(15:40):
I'm not giving God 10 buckshoping I get 100 back or that I
win the lottery or that my carthat is bound to fail won't.
It's spiritual formation.
Generosity is how God breaksfear, loosens the grip of
scarcity, and forms us into apeople who look like Jesus.
(16:00):
This is the heart of Advent.
The world says hurry, produce,fix, control.
Advent says slow down, wait,receive.
Mary doesn't begin with action,she begins with openness, by
(16:22):
receiving what only God cangive.
Mary's first act of discipleshipwasn't doing, it was receiving.
And that's true for us today.
Advent interrupts the noise andthe pace of our lives to remind
us that the Christian lifebegins not with achievement, not
(16:43):
with striving, not with usmoving toward God, but God
moving toward us first.
To see this even more clearly,we turn to Paul, who is teaching
on financial anxiousness in aspiritually inconsistent church.
He doesn't begin with a command,he starts with Christ.
(17:04):
Paul writes, You know thegenerous grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, though he was rich, yetfor your sake he became poor, so
that by his poverty he couldmake you rich.
Paul roots their giving in theincarnation, the self-giving
(17:25):
love of Jesus.
And this is the why behindChristian generosity.
Jesus used the riches of heaven,his status, his glory, and his
power, not for himself, but foryou and me.
For us.
And then Paul invites thechurch, both then and now, to
(17:46):
let Christ's generosity shapeours.
As Jesus gave himself, we giveourselves.
As Jesus leveraged his abundancefor our sake, we leverage ours
for others' sake.
As Jesus became poor to make usrich, we use what we have to
enrich the lives of those aroundus.
(18:09):
Generosity is not about payingbills or funding programs.
Generosity is participation inthe self-giving love of Christ.
I really like this quote by TimKeller.
I came across it a couple weeksago.
He says that money is one of themost powerful spiritual forces
in the world.
Unless you are activelydestroying its grip on you, it
(18:32):
will be destroying you.
And it sounds like anexaggeration, but I think he's
naming a reality, and that isthat money can disciple us just
as easily as Jesus can.
And how we combat that, how wefight that is through
generosity.
When you see how Christ hasgiven himself for you, giving
(18:52):
doesn't feel like losing.
It feels like joining God.
It feels like participating inthe very life of God.
And so the whole movement ofthis message and the whole
movement of this series thatwe're doing is that generosity
starts with God and it reshapesus before it ever flows through
(19:12):
us.
We receive before we respond.
This is not about giving more.
It's not about Madison Churchmeeting a budget.
It's about becoming someonewhose life is open to God as
Mary's was.
And so as we go through Advent,I want to invite you into a
(19:32):
posture, not a program.
The posture is to acknowledgethat everything begins with
God's generosity.
So before anything else, let'sjust acknowledge the truth that
should frame our entire lives.
We were created by generosity.
We are saved by generosity.
We're sustained by generosity.
(19:53):
Everything starts with Godgiving Himself to us.
This is our foundation and oursuccess.
Security.
This is the starting point.
But then we ask, where is Godinviting me to be available?
Just as Mary was available.
Availability will lookdifferently to every single
person in the room.
For some, it's just slowing downenough to be present with the
(20:15):
other people, people in yourlife, the people who matter.
For others of us, it'spracticing generosity with our
finances in a way that doesnudge us to trust God more.
For others, perhaps it's servingor forgiving, releasing the
anger, step into something thatyou've been putting off and
(20:39):
postponing.
I imagine for a lot of us it'ssimply saying, God, I'm willing
again.
I'm willing again.
Then I want you to reflect.
Where have I stopped receiving?
And this might be the mostimportant spiritual question you
ask yourself this week.
Where have you closed yourhands?
Where have you grown guarded?
(21:02):
Where has fear or hurry shutdown your ability to receive
what God is trying to give you?
A heart that doesn't receivecan't give.
An Advent invites us to let Godreopen what life has tightened.
And finally, let's pray.
God, let your generosity undome.
(21:24):
This was Mary's prayer.
This is the Advent prayer.
This is a prayer ofdiscipleship.
And if you pray this sincerely,God will meet you.
He will soften what is hardened,He will loosen what has been
tightened, and He will steadywhat has been shaken.
So here's your practice for theweek.
(21:44):
Before any of you make adecision about money or time or
commitments or plans, pause andreceive.
Create sacred pauses in yourweek.
Slow down long enough for God tospeak to you, for God to steady
(22:07):
you, and for God to shape you.
Because when you have receiveddeeply, giving becomes worship
rather than pressure.
And so as we enter into our timeof communion today, I want to go
in with that mindset.
Let's pause and receive.
When we take the bread, we'rereminded of Advent, of the baby
(22:30):
who comes, not in power orprestige, but to a girl who had
nothing but availability andopenness.
And then when we take the juice,we remember faithfulness.
That Jesus was faithful frombirth to death and in the
resurrection.
The God who gave is still theGod who gives today.
Welcome to Madison Church Online.
I'm Steven Feith, lead pastor.
And it is the beginning ofAdvent.
And depending on your churchtradition, background, if you
have one or none, this seasonconjures up all sorts of
thoughts, feelings, emotions,experiences.
But for me, it happens to be oneof my favorite seasons of the
year.
(00:20):
I love it.
I don't love the snow and Idon't love the cold, but I love
football on the afternoon.
I love all the lights that aregoing on.
All three of my kids, all threeof them are born in December.
And so from the timeThanksgiving ends to New Year's,
we are just one big party at myhouse.
So if in two weeks I lookexhausted, I assure you very
(00:41):
much so.
I am.
But Advent is also a season, youknow, the tension then is that
it's to be a season where weslow down, where we wait, where
we pay attention to what God isdoing, even when it doesn't
quite make sense to us.
So this it's a tension that Ifeel with three birthdays and
Christmas and Thanksgiving andNew Year's to slow down.
(01:03):
And this year we're steppinginto Advent with a very
intentional focus as a church.
And I know that for many of us,when we hear variation on the
word give, giving, generosity,our minds immediately go to
money, which then leads us tofeelings of pressure or guilt, I
(01:27):
guess, depending on where you'refrom, guilt or pressure.
It's that not in your stomachfeeling that some of you have
right now.
I just want to encourage theroom to take a deep breath.
It's okay, it's not going to beterrible.
Because in this series, we aregoing to talk about generosity,
but we want to talk about realbiblical generosity.
It's going to take us threeweeks to explain what all that
(01:49):
means.
And this series isn't aboutpressure and we're not
fundraising, and it's notchecking a box of any sort.
This is about spiritualformation because biblical
generosity is about spiritualformation.
And so when we talk aboutmaturing in our faith and
growing to be like Christ, wetalk about generosity.
(02:11):
And so what Kyle is going totalk about next week, I'm going
to talk about this week and overthe course of this series is
becoming the kind of people, thekind of community that looks
just like Jesus and who cantrust God more than we trust our
resources and the people whoallow God to reshape our
relationships, not just withmoney, but our ideas of
ownership and our ideas of evensecurity.
(02:33):
And so Christmas is actually agreat time to do this.
Although I was advised to not dothis series over Christmas for
like the last decade, but Ifigured why not just go for it
this year?
Because this is the story of Godgiving us Himself.
This is the greatest act ofgenerosity the world has ever
seen, has ever experienced.
(02:54):
And so it is the perfect placefor us to deconstruct.
Deconstruct and rebuild what wethink generosity is and what
we've heard in the church orwhat we've heard growing up.
I want to lean into what theBible actually says about this
and what God shows us generosityis, not through his words, but
through his actions.
(03:15):
And so we're going to say itevery week.
We want something for you.
We don't want anything from youthroughout this whole series,
okay?
We want you to experience thekind of freedom and joy that
grows when we learn to give theway that God gives, which brings
us to the foundation of theentire series.
What we're going to come backto, our touch point, is that
generosity starts with God.
(03:36):
Before we ever consider what wemight give, we begin by
remembering what we alreadyreceived, what was already given
to us.
And the clearest picture of thatis in one of the most familiar
verses in the entire Bible, it'sJohn 3.16.
For this is how we know Godloved the world.
He gave.
(04:20):
So he is talking about heavenand the next life, but he's
saying God loved you so much tobring that life into this one
right here and now, not justthen and there.
In Jesus, God gives us access tothat life right now in the
middle of a messy world.
And T Wright puts it this way: He says, the story of the (04:37):
undefined
gospel, the story of Jesus, isthe story of how God became
king, not by sending a militaryleader or a distant message from
the sky, but by giving himselfin love.
And what that means for us todayis that God, the God who gives,
(04:58):
doesn't give halfway.
He doesn't give symbolically orsentimentally.
Jesus is God giving himselfcompletely, sacrificially, and
personally.
When we approach Christmas,we're reminded that God is
saying, I will not love you fromafar.
I'm going to be close.
(05:18):
You're going to experience mylove.
Jesus is God with us, God besideus, and God for us.
And so let's go to Luke chapterone, begin today our Advent
series with a familiar passage.
In the sixth month ofElizabeth's pregnancy, God sent
(05:39):
the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, avillage in Galilee, to a virgin
named Mary.
She was engaged to be married toa man named Joseph, a descendant
of King David.
Gabriel appeared to her andsaid, Greetings, favored woman,
the Lord is with you.
Confused and disturbed, Marytried to think what the angel
could mean.
(06:00):
Don't be afraid, Mary, the angeltold her, for you have found
favor with God.
And then you will conceive andgive birth to a son, and you
will name him Jesus.
He will be very great and willbe called the Son of the Most
High.
The Lord God will give him thethrone of his ancestor David,
and he will reign over Israelforever.
(06:21):
His kingdom will never end.
Mary asked the only question asane person would ask, but how
can this happen?
I am a virgin.
We hear these stories, thisparticular one, and it's
familiar for a lot of you.
It's familiar to me.
We didn't grow up going tochurch every week, but around
(06:42):
December, this story came up,either by people talking about
it, like friends or my familytalking about it.
This is a story we're familiarwith.
But for the early believers,this is shocking because let's
look at Mary's context (06:55):
living under the shadow of an
oppressive Roman Empire, withviolent soldiers in the streets,
taxes that crushed families, soyou didn't get to make ends
meet, crucifixions all over theplace, which displayed a
warning.
Do not cross us in any way,shape, or form.
(07:15):
And so people lived in constantfear and with absolutely almost
no power.
So there's Rome.
But within Rome, there'sIsrael's centuries of longing
for God to act.
And it had been hundreds ofyears since there was a prophet
speaking to these people.
They're beginning to wonder likeall of this, God, where are you?
(07:39):
Are you ever going to fulfillthose promises?
And that would have been hardfor anybody, but let's look at
Mary now.
A vulnerable young, poor person,a girl with no social standing
whatsoever.
She was unmarried.
She was going to be pregnant.
And in a world that was allshame and guilt and driven by
(08:02):
that, there were no laws toprotect her, no systems to
support her.
Mary wasn't a Christmas figurineas she is now in many of our
houses.
She was just a young girl whoselife could collapse at any
moment.
This is the world Jesus enters,unstable, anxious, fearful, and
(08:26):
longing.
God gives himself not to a worldthat has it together, but to a
world that is tired, uncertain,and stretched thin.
If you feel that way thismorning, God has given himself
to you in that situation and inthose circumstances.
And so, yes, generosity beginswith God.
(08:49):
And then Mary shows us howgenerosity begins to take root
in human life.
Because God's generosity, itdemands a response.
Now, she doesn't modelabundance.
We just went over that.
It's not like he picked a richone, a popular one, an affluent
one.
He picked Mary.
(09:10):
I'm going to make the argumentit wasn't because of her
abundance, but rather as heravailability.
Let's keep reading the story.
The angel answers her questions,the Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the MostHigh will overshadow you.
So the baby to be born will beholy, and you will be called the
Son of God.
What's more, your relativeElizabeth has become pregnant in
(09:32):
her old age.
People used to say she wasbarren, but she has conceived a
son and is now in her sixthmonth, for the word of God will
never fail.
And Mary responded, I am theLord's servant.
May everything you have saidabout me come true.
And then the angel left her.
God approaches Mary not becauseof abundance in her own life,
(09:57):
but her availability, herwillingness, her openness.
She doesn't understandeverything being asked of her,
but she places herself in God'shands.
It was her openness, not hercapacity, that makes her the
first participant in God'sgenerosity.
(10:17):
And when Mary says, Mayeverything you said about me
come true, she isn't expressingpassivity.
It's not like, well, okay, let'ssee if it comes true.
It's surrender.
She's releasing control.
And this is where generositybegins.
Not when something leaves yourhand, but when your heart says,
(10:38):
Here I am.
Let your word shape my life.
I'm open to you.
This is one of the mostimportant truths we could ever
learn about generosity, and thatis that generosity begins with
identity, not income.
Mary reminds us that generositydidn't begin with wealth.
(10:58):
It didn't start with margin.
It begins with a person like youor me responding to God, saying,
I am yours.
So generosity starts with God.
I believe it requires a responsefrom us, but I also want to
acknowledge there's a bigobstacle for all of us sitting
in the room, or if you'rewatching and listening online.
(11:19):
There's a lot of obstacles forus today.
If we're going to understandgenerosity the way that
Scripture intends us, the waythat God wants us to, we have to
acknowledge that we are carryinga lot of baggage with us this
morning.
We do not come to these passagesneutrally.
We're already formed by theworld that we grew up in, that
we live in now.
(11:40):
For many of us, economic anxietyshapes how we hear these
passages.
Everything costs more.
I get it.
I live in the same world you do.
I'm looking at the same groceryprices and filling my car up
with the same gas.
Money feels tight.
And because of that, many of usquietly think generosity is for
those who make more than I do.
And maybe that will be mesomeday, but it's certainly not
(12:02):
me today.
But let me remind you that theearliest Christians practiced
generosity with far less thanany of us in the room.
Because their security wasrooted in God and not their
circumstances.
Others of us are shaped byconsumerism, and that's this
constant pressure to get more,to upgrade more, to secure more,
(12:23):
and to protect what I have.
And so we think I'll be generouswhen I finally feel secure
enough, but security in ourculture, in the United States of
America, is a moving target.
It is a destination you willnever find or arrive at because
there's always gonna be anotherbill.
There's always gonna be anothermilestone, another, if I could
(12:45):
just Apple, Samsung, Google,it's gonna come out with a new
device that you just gotta have.
Our security doesn't come fromthose things, from consuming,
from building.
It comes from God's unchanginggenerosity, not the fluctuations
of our paychecks or the swingsin our economy.
And then there's individualism.
(13:07):
This is the idea that generosityis something that I practice
privately, independently, and onmy own terms.
And so we think I'll just giveprivately on my own and hear me
out, private giving is good,even beautiful.
But biblical generosity is notjust philanthropy and isolation,
it's participation in the lifeof God's people.
(13:29):
So in scripture, when we'relooking at the words in Greek
that translate as generosity orgiving to us, today these words
are grace and sharing andopen-handedness.
So when we're talking aboutgenerosity in the New Testament,
these are the words we'retalking about, and they point to
financial sharing.
(13:50):
But there's one other big one inthe room I haven't named yet.
And I think it's one that we allfeel, and that's institutional
skepticism, right?
There have been pastors who havemisused power.
It's got a jet or two, right?
A few churches that have chasedimage over their integrity.
So now a whole bunch of us, awhole bunch of us mistrust the
(14:14):
entire idea of giving to orthrough a church.
And let's be honest, thesuspicion is not just real, but
it's understandable.
But scripture offers us a moreprofound truth.
And that truth is that we don'tgive to an organization.
We give to God through thecommunity God places us.
When you give to Madison Church,it's not giving to an
(14:37):
organization, it's giving to Godthrough the community He has
placed you in.
I'll say something personallyhere, might surprise some of
you.
The primary way that Megan, mywife, and I practice our
financial generosity is bygiving to Madison Church.
And I know it's ironic becauseI'm on the payroll, okay?
But for me, my giving isn'tabout supporting an
(14:58):
organization.
It's about practicing generositythrough the community God has
placed me in.
It's about full participation inthis community.
Madison Church, you're myspiritual family.
This is the table where Iworship, the people I serve
alongside.
This is the mission I believeGod has entrusted us together.
(15:19):
And so for me, giving isn't ajob-related obligation.
It's a deep conviction, aspiritual discipline, an
expression of trust, and how Godcontinues to form faith in me.
Generosity is worship, it's nota cosmic transaction.
(15:40):
I'm not giving God 10 buckshoping I get 100 back or that I
win the lottery or that my carthat is bound to fail won't.
It's spiritual formation.
Generosity is how God breaksfear, loosens the grip of
scarcity, and forms us into apeople who look like Jesus.
(16:00):
This is the heart of Advent.
The world says hurry, produce,fix, control.
Advent says slow down, wait,receive.
Mary doesn't begin with action,she begins with openness, by
(16:22):
receiving what only God cangive.
Mary's first act of discipleshipwasn't doing, it was receiving.
And that's true for us today.
Advent interrupts the noise andthe pace of our lives to remind
us that the Christian lifebegins not with achievement, not
(16:43):
with striving, not with usmoving toward God, but God
moving toward us first.
To see this even more clearly,we turn to Paul, who is teaching
on financial anxiousness in aspiritually inconsistent church.
He doesn't begin with a command,he starts with Christ.
(17:04):
Paul writes, You know thegenerous grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, though he was rich, yetfor your sake he became poor, so
that by his poverty he couldmake you rich.
Paul roots their giving in theincarnation, the self-giving
(17:25):
love of Jesus.
And this is the why behindChristian generosity.
Jesus used the riches of heaven,his status, his glory, and his
power, not for himself, but foryou and me.
For us.
And then Paul invites thechurch, both then and now, to
(17:46):
let Christ's generosity shapeours.
As Jesus gave himself, we giveourselves.
As Jesus leveraged his abundancefor our sake, we leverage ours
for others' sake.
As Jesus became poor to make usrich, we use what we have to
enrich the lives of those aroundus.
(18:09):
Generosity is not about payingbills or funding programs.
Generosity is participation inthe self-giving love of Christ.
I really like this quote by TimKeller.
I came across it a couple weeksago.
He says that money is one of themost powerful spiritual forces
in the world.
Unless you are activelydestroying its grip on you, it
(18:32):
will be destroying you.
And it sounds like anexaggeration, but I think he's
naming a reality, and that isthat money can disciple us just
as easily as Jesus can.
And how we combat that, how wefight that is through
generosity.
When you see how Christ hasgiven himself for you, giving
(18:52):
doesn't feel like losing.
It feels like joining God.
It feels like participating inthe very life of God.
And so the whole movement ofthis message and the whole
movement of this series thatwe're doing is that generosity
starts with God and it reshapesus before it ever flows through
(19:12):
us.
We receive before we respond.
This is not about giving more.
It's not about Madison Churchmeeting a budget.
It's about becoming someonewhose life is open to God as
Mary's was.
And so as we go through Advent,I want to invite you into a
(19:32):
posture, not a program.
The posture is to acknowledgethat everything begins with
God's generosity.
So before anything else, let'sjust acknowledge the truth that
should frame our entire lives.
We were created by generosity.
We are saved by generosity.
We're sustained by generosity.
(19:53):
Everything starts with Godgiving Himself to us.
This is our foundation and oursuccess.
Security.
This is the starting point.
But then we ask, where is Godinviting me to be available?
Just as Mary was available.
Availability will lookdifferently to every single
person in the room.
For some, it's just slowing downenough to be present with the
(20:15):
other people, people in yourlife, the people who matter.
For others of us, it'spracticing generosity with our
finances in a way that doesnudge us to trust God more.
For others, perhaps it's servingor forgiving, releasing the
anger, step into something thatyou've been putting off and
(20:39):
postponing.
I imagine for a lot of us it'ssimply saying, God, I'm willing
again.
I'm willing again.
Then I want you to reflect.
Where have I stopped receiving?
And this might be the mostimportant spiritual question you
ask yourself this week.
Where have you closed yourhands?
Where have you grown guarded?
(21:02):
Where has fear or hurry shutdown your ability to receive
what God is trying to give you?
A heart that doesn't receivecan't give.
An Advent invites us to let Godreopen what life has tightened.
And finally, let's pray.
God, let your generosity undome.
(21:24):
This was Mary's prayer.
This is the Advent prayer.
This is a prayer ofdiscipleship.
And if you pray this sincerely,God will meet you.
He will soften what is hardened,He will loosen what has been
tightened, and He will steadywhat has been shaken.
So here's your practice for theweek.
(21:44):
Before any of you make adecision about money or time or
commitments or plans, pause andreceive.
Create sacred pauses in yourweek.
Slow down long enough for God tospeak to you, for God to steady
(22:07):
you, and for God to shape you.
Because when you have receiveddeeply, giving becomes worship
rather than pressure.
And so as we enter into our timeof communion today, I want to go
in with that mindset.
Let's pause and receive.
When we take the bread, we'rereminded of Advent, of the baby
(22:30):
who comes, not in power orprestige, but to a girl who had
nothing but availability andopenness.
And then when we take the juice,we remember faithfulness.
That Jesus was faithful frombirth to death and in the
resurrection.
The God who gave is still theGod who gives today.
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