Building Whose Kingdom?
Our “code” at City Awakening consists of 7 core values that make up the DNA of our church. You can read them all here. One of those codes we say on a weekly basis on Sunday mornings, “Living contently, giving generously, to reach more missionally.” We say this weekly because we value generosity, but it’s not just generosity for the sake of giving, it’s generosity with a purpose. We want the resources that we’ve been blessed with to be used to help others come to know Jesus. As Christians, we should see ourselves as an army. The army of God brings back a lot of old-school VBS memories for some of us, but nonetheless, we are not saved to be consumers or bystanders. Jesus commissioned us to go and make disciples. Those instructions were for every believer. We are an army on a mission.
Much like a military power, effectiveness requires resources. And yes, God’s army does have the Spirit of God as the greatest resource, but God also equips men and women in special and specific ways to work together to carry out his work. This involves our spiritual gifts, our position, our power, our time, our talents, and our finances. Each of us have these resources in varying degrees and varieties, but as Christians we believe they all are given to us by God. We haven’t arrived where we are on our own power and authority. Thus, we are called to be good stewards of those resources. I think this idea of “giving generously to reach more missionally” is generally understood by those who follow the teachings of Jesus. I think the piece that often gets overlooked and underestimated is “living contently.”
We live in a consumer culture. A recent study showed that the average person encounters between 6,000 and 10,000 ads every single day!! That’s a crazy amount of “buy this,” “try this,” “eat this,” “do this,” “wear this,” and on, and on…. It is extremely difficult to be content when everything around us tells we need something else. That’s exactly why I believe living contently is the key to generosity. Most of us love the idea of being able to bless others and give away more of our money and time to someone or some organization that needs it to do great work. What’s hard is reallocating that money in our personal budgets or time in our calendars. That requires saying no to something else. But living contently is not just limited to what we say yes or no to. Many times, the things we really want or think we need are things we can do very little about. So being content also means we trust God enough to be ok with things that are out of our control.
One of the best passages of Scripture that teaches us about being content is found in Philippians 4. Best known for the “I can do all things…” verse, Paul is really teaching us about finding our joy and contentment in Jesus Christ alone, regardless of our circumstances.
“11I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. 12 I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
How many of us have learned to be content in all circumstances through the strength of Christ? I know I still have a lot of growing to do in this area of my life. But if I want to continue to grow in generosity, I know that I must grow in contentment. I have to be willing to do without so that others can be with. Not long after we started City Awakening we developed a set of questions that serve as a great diagnostic tool for our lives in the area of contentment. These are questions that we can go back to over and over again….especially when we are feeling greedy, envious, or discontent.
Am I working to grow God’s kingdom or just my own?
How can I use my resources to help further spread the gospel?
What spending decisions do I need to change so I can be generous?
Is my contentment reflecting my security is in Christ or in my stuff?
Am I thankful for the blessings God has already provided for me?
Would I be angry with God if I didn’t get what I want?
These questions can provide a gentle nudge or a stabbing conviction if needed. I particularly love the first questions and I think it sums up the whole issue: Am I working to build my kingdom or God’s? Another way of thinking about this is to ask who benefits. Is this only for my personal gain or pleasure, or does it serve God and His Kingdom in some way? We can spend a lot of time analyzing decisions, purchases, and commitments to make sure they benefit us rather than hurt us. We want to make sure that we come out on top. That’s not necessarily bad. We want to show wisdom and not just throw away our lives. But what if we learned to analyze our bank accounts, careers, purchases, calendars, and children with a Kingdom perspective. What if we were more concerned about leveraging our lives and resources for eternal things rather than temporary things. Then we would truly be positioned to be a readied soldier in the army of God, and the Church would become an even greater force in the battle against the darkness. The truth is we are all building a kingdom, the question comes down to whose kingdom we are building.
I hope that you will use the questions to do an analysis of your own life. Stick them in your Bible and come back to them regularly. We even have magnets for your refrigerator available if you want one. This is not a once-a-year evaluation. It needs to be a weekly or even daily evaluation as we continue to learn to grow in generosity, which ultimately begins with learning to be content in Christ. We must believe that he is more than enough for us.
