Well, good morning. It's always a pleasure to be here and to be able to share from God's Word with you guys. I apologize for those of you who are visiting. You get the B team today. The varsity team is out, and so Jeff and I are filling in. But we really are glad that you're here. I know there's many here that this is your first time, and we want you to feel welcome. We pray that today will be a blessing to you as we continue to look to God's Word. ...and reflect on the Incarnation. We reflect on what the Incarnation is. And for those of you who that word might be a little foreign... ...the Incarnation is simply this. It's the eternal second person of the Trinity... ...who took on Himself humanity. Some have called it the focal point of history... ...where all of the Old Testament looked forward to Christ's coming... ...and all of us in the New Testament times we look back to Christ's death. One commentator said, the Incarnation is the hinge on the door of human history. And last week as we looked at the Advent and looked at the expected coming of Christ... ... we now look at the King who has come for us. Well, I'll ask you to pray with me in just a moment, but I'll ask you to pray Psalm 2222. That's what I've been praying the last few days for us, that as today I stand and proclaim God's praises, Psalm 2222 says this, I will tell of your name to my brothers. And in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. So let's pray and let's reflect on who Christ is and his coming. Lord, We do come now, and with humble hearts, we confess that often during this season, we truly reflect on the spirit of the season. We reflect on what is one of the most wonderful times of the year, and what the world says. But it truly is a wonderful time, because Christ came, humbled himself as the King of all heaven, and was born in a lowly manger for us. God, I pray that that would change us today. I pray as we look to your word, it would change how we interact with each other. I pray that it would make us generous in our giving. I pray that it would allow us to take risk for you. I pray that we would live in a true community here. of genuine love. We do thank you for those with us this morning who are visiting. Pray that your word would be clear to them. Pray that they would see Christ fresh and new. Pray for those maybe who are here visiting or those who have attended for many years. Maybe there's some that don't know you. I pray this morning they would not just see a baby in a manger, but a Savior who died for them. And we thank you for that. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So if you're a child with us, we didn't have a chance to dismiss you yet. So if you need to be dismissed to go to Children's Church, the workers are in the back, so you're welcome to go ahead at this time. And turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. As you turn there, I'll read a quote from J.I. Packer who said this about the Incarnation. He said, There is no illusion or deception in this. The babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in all of fiction is so fantastic as is the truth of the Incarnation. Think about that. Nothing in all of fiction. No one could even imagine writing a story like this about this baby being born of a virgin and redeeming the entire world. There are many doctrinal reasons that we know from the Word of God of why the incarnation had to happen. We know that God had to be revealed to us. He provided for us in the incarnation an example that we should follow. He provided a perfect sacrifice for our sin, which was needed. Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophets of old. Jesus Christ's coming destroys the work of the devil. Jesus Christ is a sympathetic high priest for us. And also He came, lived a perfect life, so that He can be a qualified judge. He can be the qualified judge because He took the punishment that we all deserve. But you know, there's some practical reasons we're going to talk about this morning... ... about the Incarnation, about Christ's coming. From a practical standpoint, Jesus Christ coming to earth... ...means that we, as Christians, as followers of Him... ...we have the ability to give very generously and to take risk for Him. So we're going to be called to that this morning. Are we willing to give and take risk? Also, Jesus Christ coming to earth means we have a joyful purpose in our calling. That can be in our jobs, in our career. If you're changing diapers, moms, there's a joyful purpose in that. There's a joyful purpose even, the Bible says, in our sufferings. Jesus Christ came, humbled himself, suffered the death that we all deserved, and that gives us unbelievable strength and ability to go out and serve others. Also, Jesus Christ coming to earth means we can love one another with a genuine and supernatural love. So let's look just a little bit about the Incarnation... ... and some of the passages that we would think of when it comes to the Incarnation. First of all, Incarnation, the Bible talks about how the Word became flesh. John 1, 14 says this, "...and the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and it dwelt amongst us." And we have seen His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father. The Bible says that His glory is full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. So we know that the Incarnation was the Word becoming flesh in our life. But also we know that the incarnation was God becoming man. Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says this, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. "...let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and that we may find grace to help in the time of need." The Bible speaks there that Jesus Christ was without sin. And we know that only God is without sin. So Hebrews talks about not only Jesus and the Trinity and how important that is, that Jesus is the Son of God, but Jesus also is God. Jesus lived a perfect life. But also the Incarnation, and this is where we're going to be spending our time this morning. The Incarnation teaches us that the King became poor for us. So if you look there at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor... ...so that you by His poverty might become rich. This morning we're going to look at the word and we're going to see that we are rich because Christ became poor for us. And before you read this passage, I'm going to ask you to reflect on three questions. We're going to talk about these three questions this morning. The first one is this. What should living rich in Christ look like? If we look to this passage, and we look to the church here at Macedonia... ... they were living rich in Christ. They were living like kings. But what biblically should that really look like? What should living rich look like? Secondly, we're going to ask this question. What keeps us from living rich? What is it that comes into our lives that keeps us from really living this promise... ... and living the incarnation of what Christ has done for us? Again, we are called to be rich. This is something we're going to call ourselves to today. And we're going to talk about how do we do that. How do we live rich in Christ? What do we see from this passage that says we can live like kings? So let's read this passage together. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1 through 9. And we'll answer that first question. What should living rich in Christ look like? Paul says this to the church at Corinth. He says, We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed, and a wealth of generosity on their part For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urge Titus that as he had started, he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. And then verse 9, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, for my sake, for your sake, for our sake, he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. So let's look at, first of all, what should living rich in Christ look like? What can we learn from this church here in Macedonia about living rich in Christ? The first thing that we see in verses 1 through 4 is it looks like those who are generous givers. It looks like those who are generous givers. We see that it says here that for in the severe test of affliction, verse 2, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed... ...and a wealth of generosity on their part. It says they gave according to their means, and they even gave beyond their means. There is something very special about understanding who Christ is and about the gifts He's given us that leads to very generous giving. So let me ask you this morning, how do we do this? What does it mean to be a generous giver? Well, first of all, I think it takes the idea that you have to realize, number one, we are simply trustees. We are trustees of what God has given to us. You know, you might say, well, Bert, I work really hard. I went to school, got a good education. Maybe I graduated with student debt. Paid that off. Work hard at my job. I want to excel. I save. I do all the right things. But who even gives us the ability to do that? Who gives us the ability to even work and to make money? Why did Jesus Christ allow us to be born at this day, at this time, in the wealthiest nation that the world has really ever seen? To where most people that live at the poverty line in the United States live better than half of the world's population. ...that's all a gift from God. We need to see that even our ability to make money... ...even our ability to have what we have comes from God. We are simply trustees. You know, if you're a trustee of something... ...and I know a situation where a very wealthy, wealthy man died... ...and he left someone a hundred million dollars... And he left it to them in a trust. And he said, this is what you can do with this trust. You have to give it away to these charities. You're responsible for the money. You have to give that away. And here's what I would like for you to give it to. Humanitarian causes or education. And that trustee began to give that money away to his family... ...began to give that money away to causes that he believed in... ...that weren't in line with what that man that died wanted. He was a trustee that was not fulfilling the duties of what the trustee said. So when you realize that you're a trustee of what God has given you... ...we're going to follow what he says that we should do with our funds. Also, if you're a trustee, if these are truly gifts from God, there's not going to be guilt. You're not going to live in the guilt of saying, well, I have this and someone else doesn't. My life is filled with guilt. No. You know, God in His gracious wisdom, when He created Adam and Eve in the garden, He created them to be what? To be caretakers, to be trustees. We all should have part of the world to care for. That is very important. Some people say you should sell everything you have and you hear about maybe a monk that lives on the top of a tower and has nothing in the world. And says, is that a better way? Is that being more faithful if I sell everything and have nothing? But we know that God has given us things and a common grace to care for those things. So we are to be trustees of what God has given us. We're to hold very lightly the things that God has, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the gifts that He's given to us. I remember when Lauren's grandmother was dying in an elderly state, and she had to move out of her home. And she'll remember this. Grandma used to carry around with her this little black box. And in the black box were all of her papers. And every day she would take the box and she would go through those papers. Because that was very important to her. That was almost like the last thing she had that was really of her own. And she cared for that little black box. And God has given us all, at different levels, the ability to care for things in our life. He's given us abilities. He's given us talents. In some cases He's given financial means. All of those things are there for us to care and to take care of for His glory. But if we're going to be generous givers, we also have to look at the example of the Macedonians here. And you know what they were willing to do? Look at verses 2 through 3 again for me. It says, Do you know what God has called us to do? If you accept and you see the riches we have in Christ, we are called to take risk. We are called to take risk. The church here at Macedonia said, you know what? I don't have this money to give, but I'm going to give beyond that. That is them stepping out in incredible faith and taking risk. God has called us to take risk as Christians. Let me give you an illustration. Maybe this week you heard about Mark Zuckerberg, who is the founder of Facebook. Did you guys hear about what he did this week? He basically pledged to give away 99% of his wealth, which right now is around $45 billion or so. He pledged to give away, over the rest of his life, all of that wealth. So now, when you're spending time on Facebook, feel good about yourself, because you're benefiting the poor, right? You're creating wealth, more wealth for him, and benefiting his causes. But what if Mark Zuckerberg was here today, and Mark Zuckerberg gave everybody here $100,000? I'm going to ask you to participate in this, so stay with me. He came here and gave all of us $100,000, and he said, however, you have to choose one of these two. Let me give you the two options, and then I want you to raise your hand. I want you to tell me which one you would choose. He said, first of all, I'll give you $100,000, but then you have to put it in the bank... for a year and after a year, you'll get your $100,000, but you're not going to have anything else with it. So you have to leave it there for a year, but I promise you in a year you'll get 100,000. So that's, that's option number one. Option number two is this. What if he said, you can take that $100,000 and, and you can invest that, but there's only two outcomes from this investment. You're either going to double your money in a year or you're going to lose it all. So you're gonna double your money, so at the end of the year, and it's a 50-50 chance. It's a 50% chance you could double your money, and you could get $200,000 back. Or you could lose it all. Now, I know some of you engineers and your CPAs that are out there, you're thinking, well, why don't I do half in each, right? So I'll do $50,000 in one and $50,000 in the other. And then maybe I know I'll have $50,000, but maybe I'll have $150,000. No, it doesn't work. You've got to choose one or the other. So I'm just curious, who are the risk takers in here? So if you said, OK, I will do option number one. I just want the $100,000 in a year, raise your hand. How many of you said, hey, I would do option number two, I would take my chances for, all right, good. It's not quite 50-50, but it's close. Well, guess what? When you serve God and you're willing to take risks the way the church did here in Macedonia, You always get the return. It's never a 50-50 chance. You should always select option number two because you always get an incredible return on your investment. That's what he's saying here. He's saying take option number two. Choose to take risk for God because our life is short. Because if I could relate anything to you today, it would be be willing to take a risk. Be willing to take a risk with your finances. Sometimes that means an uncomfortableness about retirement. Maybe we don't know what it's going to look like all the time. But can I also ask you, take a risk with your life in some regards. And what I mean there is maybe a career, maybe a calling, maybe God. has prompted you as a young person or an adult to maybe serve on the mission field, to maybe give of that way. Are you willing to take that risk? Sometimes taking a risk for Christ means you may lose your reputation. Your reputation among co-workers or your reputation even among God's people at times, it may take a hit. If you're willing to take a risk for God, sometimes your reputation could suffer from that. Sometimes your family may suffer when you take a risk for God. You think, and I was talking with a college student recently that was mentioning about missionaries and their families, and sometimes it seems like their kids really struggle because the parents are so given to a mission. You know, sometimes we're called to take risks even with our families. Parents, it's so easy to just be wrapped up in the world of our kids and our family in an easy life. Sometimes you have to be willing to take risk. That's what God was calling the Macedonia church to do. And that's what Paul was calling the church at Corinth to do. Also, generous giving. What's amazing about generous giving is we really can take it with us. You really can send ahead when you give to God's causes. And I'm not talking about just financially, but I am talking about financially too. When you give to God's work and the kingdom expands because of it, you can actually send ahead your riches Secondly, what we're going to see from this church in Macedonia is living rich in Christ not only results in very generous giving, but a true community. Look at verse 5 with me if you would. It says, and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. You know, there is a recognition of who God is by these Macedonian believers. They were recognizing that God is the Lord of their life, that God is the one that has given them these incredible gifts. And even in their circumstances, they said, we're going to respond by giving to God. They recognized also the idea of receiving others around them. I want you to think about, there's three churches that are talked about in this passage. There's the church at Macedonia. Many of us know of the Bereans, and you think about them. That church in Macedonia was in the northern part of Greece. It was mainly Gentile-type believers. And then you had the church at Corinth. And Paul is writing to this church at Corinth, which is an extremely diverse church. They have Jewish believers there that are still hanging on to part of the law. And then they have Gentile believers who were saved out of the horrific lifestyle of the city of Corinth. Most of you are aware of the city of Corinth, that they actually have a verb that was named after them during this time called to Corinthianize. Which was basically complete immorality. That was their term for it, was to Corinthianize this city. And Paul says, such were some of you that were in this church. So this church was very diverse, lots of different types of believers... ... but they're taking up an offering for the famine for the church of Jerusalem... ... which was still primarily Jewish believers. These are three very different churches. And what Paul is encouraging them to is to look at the body. Give yourselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. And the Bible says it was unexpected. When you live in a true community, that is an unexpected thing. You see, we do like uniformity. It makes us feel comfortable. But the famous writer F.F. Bruce said this. Uniformity is not a healthy thing for any church, whether it be social or theological uniformity. He says this, and pay very close attention. It's ironic to hear F.F. Bruce say that if you don't know who that is. He is a Plymouth Brethren theologian. A Plymouth Brethren would probably not be known for saying that type of quote about diversity. But he's saying, and what I've appreciated about Pastor Jim, if you've been here on Sunday nights, where he's gone through and he's talked about, we as a church need to realize there are absolutes. There are things up here that are non-negotiables that are very important. And then there's also convictions, and convictions can vary to a degree. And then there's preferences below that. And we want to make sure we keep those proper orders in perspective. If we're going to live in a true community together, we cannot negotiate the absolutes of God's Word. God's Word is very clear in many areas, and we cannot negotiate those. But we have to show grace when it comes to things like preferences. Diversity is a good thing. And true community here, we see it with how even these gifts went out. It would have caused problems asking a Gentile believer to give money to a Jewish believer that was still struggling. That would have been an uncomfortable thing. And then lastly, what should living rich in Christ look like? It looks like genuine love. Look at verses 7 and 8. And as I read this, I want you to be thinking about, what is this passage a reflection of? And I'll give you a little bit of a hint. It's a reflection of one of Paul's earlier letters to the Corinthian church. So something from 1 Corinthians he's referencing here in these verses. He says this, but as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also. So what is that a reflection of? Does that ring a bell with anyone? Maybe what chapter from 1 Corinthians? Any guesses there? Some people are thinking about it. It's 1 Corinthians 13, right? 1 Corinthians 13. I want you to think about what he's just said here. He's talked about our speech, he's talked about our faith, he's talked about our love, and he's talked about our giving. Now let me read to you 1 Corinthians 13. He says, "...if I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love... ...I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." He says, "...and if I have prophetic powers and I understand all mysteries and all knowledge... ...and I have all faith, so that is to remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing." And then he says this about giving. He says, "...if I give away all I have... And if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." You know, if we're going to live rich in Christ, genuine love is the fuel. It's the fuel that drives generous giving and true community. We are not going to be generous givers until we recognize the genuine love of Christ in our life. And we are not going to live in true community until we have a genuine love for others around us. Genuine love, it says here, there's a word that speaks to the earnestness of the love. And it's talking about passion. So let me ask you, what are you passionate about? What are you passionate about? My wife and I had this conversation recently. I have lost my passion for college football. And it's probably because my team has not done well recently. But I've lost that passion. I would rather sleep than watch a game now. And I say, does that mean I'm just getting old? And she's like, no, your passions are just different than they've been in the past. But what are you passionate about? Well, I can tell you what you're passionate about is what you will give your time to. What you are passionate about is what you will give your money to. And here in this passage we are called to be passionate about loving one another. So going on, what's the next question here? What keeps us from living rich? What keeps us from living rich? These things did not keep the Christians in the Church of Macedonia from serving Christ. It says here that they experienced what was called a test of affliction. That they went out of what was comfortable for them to give. C.S. Lewis said, if you're looking for a religion that's comfortable, it's not Christianity. You know, what happens when afflictions or when trials come? How do you respond? How do you respond? I know for me personally a lot of times I try to run from them. I try to get the uncomfortable things out of my life. I try to move away as quickly as I can. But here we see the Macedonian church, they ran to discomfort. They said, I will gladly put myself in a very negative financial situation to benefit the church and to benefit Christ. They ran to the discomfort. Also, I think at times when when discomfort comes we try to mask that by filling our lives with other things I heard one preacher say one time we fill our lives with the white noise of the world Doesn't mean it's really bad things, but we fill our lives with maybe college football which again That's a fun thing that's held in right perspective Or maybe we fill our lives with with time on Facebook or we fill our lives with family or with good hobbies But are we filling our lives? Are we willing to be uncomfortable? Serving Christ will involve discomfort, but it's a beautiful discomfort. It is an absolutely beautiful discomfort because God says through His Word, and the Apostle Paul says that when I serve, when I die to others, it's so that others can live. What a great example. I am dying so that others can live. That's what we're called to do in our lives. Serving Christ will involve discomfort, but it's beautiful. Secondly, I think here we see that the circumstances of this church did not discourage them from living rich. But I think often our circumstances do. It says in verse 2 that they were in extreme poverty. But their circumstances actually led them to serving Christ in a rich and new way. Sometimes in my life I look at a phrase called, if only. The if only phrase goes something like this. Well, if only I didn't have to go to my job every day and spend all my time there, then I could really serve God, right? Or if only I was married. If only I had a spouse, then we could really, really serve God together. Or if only I didn't have a spouse and kids, maybe then I would have time to go out and do the things that I really want to do for God. Or if only I had... the right job. You know, my job is just such a dead end. I don't know how I can really serve God in this. If only, if only, if only. I think many times we live in our circumstances that are around us when we don't see past them. The Macedonian church here was serving and giving in spite of extreme circumstances. Extreme poverty, it says. I remember growing up, there was a lady that her husband had passed away, and she began coming to our church. And I can remember thinking that, that's a very difficult circumstance. But she was such a blessing to our church family, that even in the midst of circumstances that were very hard, she was giving, she was discipling, she was a part of many people in the church's lives. And I appreciated that so much, and I learned from that. Or maybe you go and visit someone in the hospital and their circumstances are very difficult. And you go and you go and say, I really want to be an encouragement. I want to be a blessing to them. And all of a sudden you're there for an hour and you walk away and you think, wow, how can they minister to me that way in the midst of such a difficult circumstances? It is a supernatural gift. Don't let your circumstances keep you from serving God. Don't let them dictate your service. But then lastly, I think these are driven by our pride. Pride, by definition, is a comparison. We are comparing ourselves to others. We compare to other people's circumstances, don't we? It would be so nice if I didn't have a school bill like my roommate. It would be so nice if I had the right job be so nice if I had children or a family we obviously Struggle with pride but here in verse 5 it says that the Macedonian believers gave themselves first to the Lord They responded to Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was the perfect example of this with Jeff reading from Philippians this morning that says he humbled himself and and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. You know, because of Jesus Christ's humility, we can serve others out of humility. We don't have to have pride. We don't have to compare. So lastly, how do we live rich? How do we live rich? What do we see in this passage that will guide us on how we should respond and live rich? Well, first of all, we should see the grace. Look at verses one, six, seven, and nine. Let me read those for us. And I want you to look at the term grace and how it's used. In verse number one, it says, we want you to know, brethrens, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. So here Paul references the grace of God. And in verses 6 and 7 he says this, "...accordingly we urge Titus..." This is Titus acting out what he is encouraging. He says that he had started that he should complete among you this act of grace. He says, So this is an act of grace that we're called to take part of. So we start off with this big picture of God's grace. And then this active participation of our grace, and then look at verse 9. It says, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich. This is the means to do it. This is the means to do it. This is Jesus Christ's grace coming into our lives. This is the means. It's like someone giving you a hundred million dollars and saying, now I want you to give it away. I want you to give it away to others around you. Someone is supplying the means for you to do that. You don't even have to come up with that money on your own. It's been given to you. But what we've seen is it starts off with this big picture view of God's grace. This is a creational view of grace. This is God saying, I've created you for a purpose, and I've created you with abilities. And the second one is, act these out. These are the gifts that come from God. And then the last one, he talks about Jesus Christ giving us the power to do that through His perfect life. And by the way, this is a view of the gospel. This is a view of the gospel of Jesus Christ coming for us... ...living the perfect life and dying the death that we all deserve. That's why even when we do our service orders here, they're often reflective of the story of the gospel... ...because it's reflective of what God has done for us. If you're here today and you are listening and you have never accepted that gift... ...if you've never said, you know what, God? I do depend on my own comfort. I do depend on my own circumstances. I have not seen you truly give the gift that you've given. I do not see myself as rich in Christ. I see myself as poor. Maybe you've never accepted that gift. This morning I would call you to consider that. ...turn in repentance to Him. So we see this grace that's given to us. This is God's generous gift to us. This ties back to our first point. We can be generous givers with our time and our ability, with our money... ...because we've been given the ultimate gift through Jesus Christ. Secondly, see the gifts that God has given us. This is the more practical side in verse 7. He names them for us. He says, "...but see as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also." See, this church at Corinth, over and over, Paul says, you all have been enriched in these gifts. You have been given unbelievable abilities to serve God. But they weren't using them. They weren't using them to the fullest capacity to serve the community. He was encouraging them with their faith. Are we trusting Christ in our lives? He was encouraging them in their speech. Are we speaking of His love? Are we living in the community that He's called us to? He was encouraging them with the knowledge of what God has given. He was encouraging them to live a passionate life and to be aggressive givers for Him. And that's what God's called us to today as well. See the gifts that you've been given. Are you serving the community around you with your gifts? And I am. I'm talking about this community right here. Are you serving those around you with the gifts God has given you? Or do we come with an expectation of others to constantly give to us? Do you speak well to the people around you? Do you encourage them in the faith? Pastor Jim's been encouraging us with this theme of discipleship. Are you involved with other people's lives around you? Or do you really focus on your own circumstances, on your own comfort... ...and waiting for maybe that right person to come and speak to you in church... ...or to offer to you the opportunity to be served? But are we serving others around us? Are you using your gifts to serve this community? But also, are you using the gifts to serve even a broader community? Are we willing to step out and serve those who are in our community around us? What about the co-workers that we work with, those that we are neighbors, that we come in contact with? What about people who come in through these doors that we might not even know? They literally come in, and as they walk in, they don't know anyone here. Are we reaching out? Are we taking the opportunity to use our gifts to serve God has equipped us to do great things for the kingdom. I don't want to waste my life. I don't want you to waste your life. God has equipped us to do great things for His kingdom. And then lastly, you need to see the giver. You need to see the giver. And this ties back to the genuine love that we are to reflect. When we live rich in Christ, we love others around us. But we don't just make a decision to love other people. It starts by seeing the love that we have through Jesus Christ. Look at verse 9. And again, we've read it many times, but it's worth it. The love of Jesus Christ is like this unending bank of love that we could never exhaust. It's like Mark Zuckerberg giving us $45 billion to give away. We probably could never do that in our lives. Jesus Christ, through His death on the cross, has given us this love. Just a second, I'm going to close by reading the last part of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I'm going to read it. This is a very familiar verse, but I want you to reflect on what it says at the very end. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says this, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part then I shall know fully." There's this little phrase that... let me stop, let me explain there what's going on. Paul is reminding the church there that while we're here, we can see incredible glimpses of Christ, but it's dim. We don't see the full love of who Christ is and what He's done. But he says one day, we will see Him face to face, when we are glorified into His presence. If you are a Christian today, During this life, you get the wonderful opportunity to see many glimpses of God's grace in your life. But one day, you're going to see that grace fully. You're going to see it face to face. Paul says this, "...now I know in part, but then I shall know fully." One day, we will truly know and understand the love that Jesus Christ has for us. But listen to this last phrase of this verse. He says, "...even as I have been fully known." You know what that's saying there? We think about it from our side. We think about Jesus Christ, one day I'll see Him fully. One day I'll understand fully the love He has. But do you know what? Right now, think about it from the other side. That verse says that Jesus Christ fully knows us now. He fully loves us now. We are complete in Him because of what He has done. When Jesus Christ looks down on us... He knows us fully because He knows and sees the blood of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice. When God looks at us, that's what He sees. We are fully loved by God now. And at times, we don't embrace that. We don't completely understand that. But that should change the way we go out. That should change the way we think about our giving. That should enable us to take unbelievable risk because the one whose love matters the most loves us fully. That should allow us to serve others in this community with passion. That should also allow us to look around and to love with a heart of what Jesus Christ is, a humble and gracious heart. We're gonna close in prayer, and after praying, I'm just gonna give us a few moments just to reflect on God and His Word. And I would really call you to reflect on the gifts that we've been given through Christ. I call you, if you've never accepted that gift, today's a great day to do that. After the service, I'm gonna be up here. We're gonna sing, we're gonna close. But if you're not sure, come and talk. Let us take God's Word and just show you what it means to be rich in Christ. We can be rich because He became poor for us. Let's pray.