Giving generously

April 20, 2026

Where is Your Treasure?

Luke 12:13–34

Where is your treasure? What captures your heart? What consumes your time? What gets you up in the morning or keeps you up at night? Is it on earth or in heaven?

If greed says, “I can never get enough”, worry says, “I’m afraid I may not have enough.” Both reveal a wrong view of God. Greed is short-sighted and turns our stuff into idols. Always wanting more, we think our stuff will give us life. When we do that, we forget or ignore that life is so much more than the things we have or the achievements we’ve accomplished. Life, true life, can only be found in our relationship with Jesus…the way, the truth, and the Life.

Worry is similar but different. It’s constantly asking, “But what if…” It’s a failure to trust God to provide. Instead of seeing Him as a loving Father who gives good gifts to His kids, He is a distant God who is unconcerned about the day-to-day of life on the earth He created. The weeds that choke out the Word in the parable of the soils are worries, riches, and pleasures of this life…worry and greed. Both keep the Word from being productive in a believer’s life.

But there is an alternative… if we want to live and love like Jesus, we need to trust God rather than our stuff. We have to believe that God is a loving Father who cares for us and what’s happening in our lives. We have to trust that He can and will provide as we pursue Him and look out for others’ needs. Then we can be generous rather than greedy, helping rather than hoarding. If we want to worry less, then give more. Remember, generosity is not about the amount, but the heart attitude when we give or serve. It’s seeing those things as acts of worship.

Don’t be a fool. One day, your life will be required of you. If your life reflects greediness and selfishness, if it’s the sum total of the stuff you’ve accumulated, if you’re trusting in your stuff, then you will be sadly disappointed. But if your life is rich toward God, if you’ve invested in His kingdom and loved people, if you’ve trusted in Jesus and allowed Him to transform you from the inside out, then yours is the kingdom.

pro rege

This post is based on our Quarterly Update sermon. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

January 16, 2023

All In: The Joy of Giving

1 Chronicles 29.1-20

Giving…generosity…is easily overlooked as a spiritual discipline. I have said it a few times…pray every day, spend time in the Word every day, share your story at every opportunity, and fellowship with other believers as often as you can, but giving is another one of those disciplines that’s at the core of what it means to follow Jesus. I don’t know how we can express love…for God or for our neighbor…without giving. Giving of our time. Giving of our abilities. Giving of our resources. Giving of ourselves. Giving reflects the love that God so generously has shown toward us in Jesus.

If giving is new to you, I know what it feels like to look at your finances and wonder, “how?” When I was growing up, giving was not a practice my parents modeled. With eight kids…money was always tight. So giving wasn’t something I was used to…and putting myself through college, I never had two nickels to rub together as my dad would say. I didn’t think I could afford to give. So it wasn’t until I met my wife Wendy that I even considered giving as a spiritual discipline. And even then, I wasn’t sure how the giving thing would work out. But we did it anyway, and we haven’t looked back since.

So let me challenge you to be all in and give giving a try in 2023. Pick an amount and begin to give regularly. Set a goal and work towards it. Taste and see that the LORD is good. I think you’ll find that giving actually helps you release your death grip on the stuff that you are holding on to so tightly and experience the joy of seeing kingdom impact.

I said it before, but it’s worth repeating…when we give, God is more concerned about the “why” than the “what”. He looks at the heart. And it’s only when we give with a thankful heart, an upright heart, a willing heart…one that is turned towards Him…that we will know the absolute joy and gift that giving is.

And for those of you for whom giving is a discipline that you’ve practiced for awhile, thank you for your faithfulness.

Remember, everything we have comes from the LORD. We have simply been entrusted with it for a short time. So whether it’s a little like the widow or much like King David, let’s be generous givers!

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our All In series. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

August 30, 2022

Generosity 101

Luke 18-19, 21

God’s economy is different than ours. The stories of the rich young ruler, Zaccheus and the poor widow are reminders that God is not looking at the size of the gift, but the motivation behind giving it. God’s not after our money, but us. And yet we cannot give ourselves to Him without giving everything to Him, including our stuff.

Just as our Father is generous, He wants us to be generous too. Because of our so great salvation, our thankful and happy hearts should loosen our grip on our stuff and free us up to give…and to give generously like both Zach and the widow. In fact, we as believers should be the most generous folks on the planet!

But so often we’re not. We act more like the rich young ruler. Maybe it’s because we have too low a view of God. Maybe we’re afraid to trust Him because deep down inside we believe Him to be stingy…that somehow He might hold out on us. And if we give away what we have, there won’t be enough for us. 

Yeah…but that’s not the picture that the Bible paints of who God is…think about the number of stars in the heavens, the number of galaxies, the greatness and vastness of space. In the Genesis account, when God creates the sun, moon and stars, what is their purpose? To give light to the earth, and for signs and for seasons. Seems to be a bit extravagant, doesn’t it?

What about God’s grace and His mercy and His love? His boundless, immeasurable love? The cross where the sins of all mankind were placed on His beloved Son. Every sin atoned for. Every one. So that all might be saved…if they will believe in Jesus.

So if God is so incredibly generous in these things…both in creation and in redemption, then why would He be stingy in providing for our needs (birds and flowers)? Our generosity problem has nothing to do with our wealth or lack thereof. The widow was certainly not rich by anyone’s standards. It has everything to do with our faith and obedience. So the question is, do you trust God enough to give generously?

When I was growing up, giving was not a practice my parents modeled. With eight kids…money was always tight. So giving wasn’t something I was used to…and putting myself through college, I never had two nickels to rub together as my dad would say. I didn’t think I could afford to give. So it wasn’t until I met my wife Wendy that I even considered giving as a spiritual discipline. And even then, I wasn’t sure how the giving thing would work out. But we did it anyway, and we haven’t looked back since.

For some of us, giving is a discipline that we’ve practiced for awhile. Somewhere along your spiritual journey, someone challenged you to make giving a regular practice, and so you’ve done it for years. Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity.

If giving is new to you, I know what it feels like to look at your finances and wonder, “how?” Let me just challenge you to try it. Pick an amount and begin to give regularly. Set a goal…maybe ten percent, and build those giving muscles until you reach it. Taste and see that the LORD is good. Strive to become a generous giver, not a bigger barn builder, knowing that investing in the kingdom pays eternal dividends. Then your heart won’t be wrapped up in your stuff, but in the kingdom. Just like Zach and the widow.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our main service. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.