SAINT
Vision Sunday Part 2: Freedom In Your Finances - Al Gordon
Good morning everybody, would you like to grab a seat? it is so good to see you well done for making it through the carnival. I know all the roads around here are totally closed now. Those of you watching online who may not be able to join us today, we miss you guys, but thank you so much for your time. We're hosting this Sunday, London's second biggest street party after Notting Hill Carnival. So around the church and all the streets around here, the largest carnival of Notting Hill is going to be precessing in a few hours time, starting at 12 and I'd love to encourage you to stick around. There's food, courts all around the church. We as the church are hosting the community. We invite the community to come. There are kids' activities in the World Guard and it's a partnership between the Council and the church here to help encourage and celebrate the diversity of the community, but also carnival was always about celebrating what God has given us, like a harvest festival and giving back to God, what is his. So today it's fitting that it's part two of our vision Sunday and it's our chance to give the church. It's gifting and we always talk about a church as a church about wanting to give like a carnival, not a funeral and today is carnival Sunday as well. So Hallelujah. So would you turn the person next to you and say, "Happy carnival." Happy carnival. Those of you watching online at home, we hope you're not feeling too left out. You can still get down here and it's going to be great. Forgive me if I'm a little sweaty, not only is it also torrentially raining outside, but I'm racing between all the different services. I want to do this live. So I'm speaking, I think six or seven times today. And with a carnival away, like literally the room map is like the space between all our locations. So I have to have a conversation with the police each time say, "Well, actually I'm the vicar. Could I please come through? Please let me through." So pray for me as I race around, as I pray for you that God will speak to you today. We're going to look at the whole area today of freedom in our finances. Before we do that, better housekeeping. You hopefully have one of these on the way in, a saint, a vision update. I want to draw your attention as we did last week to two slides. The first page looks like this, the statistics. And you'll see the churches growing and praise God. People are coming to know Jesus. The most exciting statistic on this is the 338 people we know of in the last year who've made commitments to follow Jesus. Isn't that amazing? Can we give thanks to God for that? (Applause) Also really encouraging 454 North to 18s now engaging each week. When I first came to be the vicar, the director here a little under seven, eight years ago now, I met a guy like Christopher, who's here at our 10 o'clock service. And we had a conversation. We were walking around the parish and it was my sort of interview and I was talking to him and I said, "What's your dream for this parish?" And he said that we would reach young people. We don't see any young people on Sundays, a handful. And now I've got news for you. We have too many young people. Literally last week the kids groups got full capacity. So not only are we going to take up an offering, as you've heard, there are chances to volunteer, there are stands at the back. If you are here and you'd love to input and invest in the next generation, speaking to you guys who are like, "I'd just love to get involved." Kids is an amazing way to get involved. They are the most amazing part of the church. And if you can go and give some time volunteering, encouraging, helping train a new generation to follow Jesus, it is time well spent. So again, the stands are at the back. You can sign up for kids, crew, hey baby, crew, youth crew. But nearly 500 now, young people engaging in Saint each week, which is kind of crazy, isn't it? It's so encouraging that God is on the move among our young people. The generation that we really, really, of course, God loves everybody, but he has a special place in his heart for the next generations because they will shape the future of what is to come. And so we pray that God would work powerfully among our young people. So you'll also notice on slide two, some of the finances. And again, if you're an accountant or you work in finance or you're the budget person and your family, you'll be all over this. You'll get this on the left expenditure and on the right the projected income. And you'll notice there is a gap. And this is not uncommon. What we do is we bring that gap to the church twice a year and say, "This is the family snapshot, the family meeting." If you're a visitor here today, treat this as a normal offering. But for those of us who amends the church, we're laying out the needs of the church and we're praying that you might respond. The total that we've been praying God would provide is that gap, 221, 360 to the end of the year. And we took up our first bit of the offering last week. Do you want to know how we got on? We started off last Sunday. And drum roll, please. So far. 52,000 pounds has been given towards that total, which is amazing. [applause] One really encouraging note with that is that a culture of that was given by the staff team alone, which shows how committed our amazing team are that serve here. They are in for a penny, in for a pound. They are amazing. Hey, Thomas. Good to see you. That's Thomas. He's allowed to make as much noise as he can. And then wherever he does, it's the sign that he approves of what I'm saying. So shame on you for not saying amen louder, right? Amen, amen. So listen, what I'm going to ask that we do today is consider how we might play our part. The total is now 167,000. We're praying God will provide today, actually. And this is the sort of real, in real terms, the gap between, well, keeping ministry going and keeping everything rolling until Christmas. And we, as a church, are dependent on our members. We don't have some sort of massive fun somewhere, which we did. But the resources of the church, the reserves of the church, are in your pockets. Our pockets is the congregation. And so to encourage you that what we do today has an impact. Have a look at the last few years. Have a little look at the story of saints so far. And this should encourage us that what we do today is making a difference. Have a look at this. Praise God. I'd love to encourage you to grab the gift card and the pen and the moment we're going to have an offering and a chance to fill this in. You'll see that you can contribute. And be praying, as I speak, how God might call you to be involved. But maybe you're here today and you're thinking, "Oh, no. I made it through the carnival traffic. I thought my way through the barriers. I've come to church against the odds." And it's the one of the chances of being the one Sunday where we're going on about the money. Oh, is it too late to leave? Of course, it's not too late to leave. You can slip out if you need to. No one's going to judge you. But that's because for many of us, the whole area of finance is such a cause of stress. Today, what I want to speak to you about is how to experience freedom in the area of your finances. Freedom in your finances. The Office of National Statistics recently published data that said that half of us experience anxiety in the area of money. Struggling to pay the rent. Mortgages. Bills. If you're married, you'll know that you might have a different view to how to spend your money to your partner. It's the leading cause of rouse. We can feel trapped. A quarter of us at any one point are at risk of falling into debt. Costa Living has meant that we felt controlled by our finances in the last few years like never before. Bills jumping up. And 40% of those consequently presenting with mental health crises describe finance as being a factor in their mental health crisis. Now, the good news is Jesus cares about you and I. And therefore he cares about our money. He wants us to experience freedom in our finances. If you look at Jesus' teaching, he spends more time speaking about money than almost anything else. One-sixth of Matthew, Mark and Luke is taken up with teaching on money and possessions. Look at Jesus' parables. A third of them are about money and possessions. It's the equivalent of us running gift day or teaching on money every three to six weeks. So this stuff is not off limits to Jesus. In the Bible, there are 500 verses on faith without which you can't have a relationship with God. There are 500 verses on prayer without which you can't experience that relationship. Do you know how many there are on money and possessions? 2,300. Now, why wouldn't God's teaching around our finances be every bit as liberating as his teaching around forgiveness or marriage or hope? So God wants you and I to experience freedom, not fear when it comes to our finances. They wouldn't be a source of anxiety, bondage and control in our lives. But how do we do that? Well, bad news is we're not going to work it out today. The good news is God will work it out in us, and we can start today. So I want to go to a passage in Corinthians that I'm going to look at. The Jesus uses the Bible from beginning to end a teacher, so there's 2,300 verses on money and possessions. Every one of them is helpful for us. But I want to zoom in on three in the book of Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6-8. And let me read this to you. Remember this, the Gospel, the Epistle says. I remember this. Whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever so generously will reap generously. Each of you should give what you've decided to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Let me pray, Father, would you come right now by your Holy Spirit and help every one of us experience freedom in the area of our finances. Set us free, God. We lay our worries before you today. We cast our burdens on you. Look, we say we don't know how to see a way forward for our futures, and we ask that you'd speak to each one of us. Help us grow, strengthen us by your Word and through your Spirit, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to draw out of this passage today, just three practical things, and I'm going to teach as a pastor today because this area of what keeps us awake at night is very much on God's heart. And my hope and my prayer is as we leave today, wherever you're watching us today, this will give you some framing to help begin a journey from anxiety to blessing and contentment, from fear to freedom in your finances. Three things. First thing that God is hoping that we're going to do is move from anxiety to abundance. Move from a mindset of anxiety being crippled by fear to a mindset of understanding God's abundance. Two Corinthians 9 verse 6, whoever's so sparingly will reap sparingly, whoever's so generously will also reap generously. When we read this verse, it's tempting to think this is about scarcity versus plenty, but that's not the equation in this verse. What's actually going on here is, Paul's making the point of sowing and fruitfulness. Sowing is the key. The verse makes the point that freedom in our finances come from sowing diligently for the future. So much of our finances can be reactive rather than proactive. We can respond because we're in a crisis. We think, "Oh, it's gift day. Oh, goodness. Let me think what I've got left in my bank account." Well, it's the 22nd of the month, but nothing is the answer. So, well, maybe next time. I was with a lady at St. Barnabas, our newest saint location, 1030 service. Those communities have met there for a long time. And I asked them, "Does anyone grow anything in this congregation?" She put it on up. She said, "Yeah, I grow tomatoes. How's it going?" "Very badly. No tomatoes this year." But she said, "Next year, they're going to be amazing." That's understanding sowing. You don't always reap what you sow. But when you sow diligently over time, carefully and faithfully, you do reap a harvest. So, a few practical things. Number one, so sustainably. Luke 1428, Jesus says this, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower? Wouldn't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you've enough money to complete it? If you're thinking about doing extension or redecorating your flat or a new carpet, you get a quote or two and you work out, "Can I do this?" That's thinking and sowing sustainably. Second practical thing, harvest honorably. Put aside the first fruits of what come in as income to be able to give away. Proverbs 3 verse 9 teaches us honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of your crops. I met a lady last Sunday. She's retired on very little income. She said, "The numbers are very big, but I'm happy to help. Here's what I do." She said, "I get 20 pounds a week. I set aside two of that for the work of God, and I live on the rest." It was amazing. The biggest example Jesus gives of giving, the hero of the New Testament, is the widow who gives a might, smallest coin. It's never about the money. It's never about the numbers. It's always about our heart, our attitude and our obedience to God. It's giving from the first fruits that's really important. And yet, so often in my experience over time, it's felt like I give for the last fruits. You know, my paycheck comes in, if I'm lucky, and then I get Netflix. It's the gym. Maybe you have a dating app you subscribe to. I said this earlier to our staff team. There's a dating app. Maybe you have a monthly description. They're like, "Dah." That was like so like 20, 2000 and late. Like no one pays for dating apps anymore, apparently. And I said to them, "Maybe you should. You're still single. I joke, Joe." But you know, we prioritize our mobile phone contract. Praise God from our phone contract. But then we find at the end of the month, we've got nothing left to be able to give into the work of God. Maybe make sure that your giving comes first. That's what we do. Top of our bank account. Top of our statement. First of the month. Our income comes in. Our giving goes out by direct debit. So now I have to think about it. And we give Liv and I to Saint. That's the place we do. 90% of our giving is here. Because to be honest, we get the privilege of being part of this meeting. No one else is going to care so much about what we do. No one else gives the same. I mean, we are the members of Saint. It's our vision. We get to do this in East London. You're watching online from somewhere around the world. Don't let that stop you being part of yet today. But the point is our members are the places where we depend on. It's us and it together. Then the third practical thing is to have faith in your father. Have faith in your father. You think about anxiety and abundance. Well, I lean to anxiety the whole time and I'm reminded by Jesus who talks specifically about this. Matthew 26, verse 25, 26. Therefore I tell you, don't worry. And eat lists. What you wear. What you drink. And you eat. Don't worry about your body. Look at the birds. They don't sow a reap or store. You have any father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? It was moved from anxiety to abundance. Understanding that we may feel anxiety in the era of finance. But God is abundant. God has it under control. God is able to do more than we could ask for a match. Second thing we learn. That God wants us to move from bondage to blessing. From bondage to blessing. Jesus doesn't want you and I to be a slave to fear. Financial struggles can feel like a prison. So Corinthians again, verses 7 and 8, says each of you should give what you decided to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. But God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly. The key to this is the concept. The Christian concept of stewardship. Understanding that the resources that you and I have on us, really, they belong to God. You came into the world with nothing. You'll leave the world with nothing. You can't take your bank balance with you. You can't take your credit card with you. But understanding that everything you have is from God is hugely liberating. We move from being owners to the concept of stewarding what we have. I'm the rector of this parish. And when you become the rector, you sign a legal document, the bishop hands to you, that makes you the custodian of the building and the grounds. And today I'm wandering around going, "Oh, is that portal in the right place?" "Well, I'm not sure about that." Because I feel a sense of ownership because I'm the rector. But I don't get to keep it. It's not mine. I'm just the steward. I'm a custodian the same way you are a custodian of your life. The gifts God's given you, your talents. They're not yours to keep. They're yours to steward, to look after. Psalm 21, which has been such a key song for us in the last 18 months, we've been experiencing God calling us to ascend the hill of the Lord, clean hands, pure hearts. You know, glory would come in and the refreshing sense of God's presence. But Psalm 24 begins with this great proclamation, verse 1, says this, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, reminding us that everything we have belongs not to us but to God." So freedom in this area means moving from seeing your money as your money to understanding that it's God's money on loan to you. When you become a Christian, you put everything, your whole life into his hands. You put 10% of ourselves in the baptismal pool. I'm going to keep that bid. You don't see when we're getting baptised and clutching their wallets out of the water. You know, everything we have is the Lord's. We're custodians. Again, a few practical things we can do to move from bondage to blessing. Think about this. Stewarding wisely involves proactively making some decisions. One helpful thing is a rule of thumb. Try and look at your income. Put aside 10% of savings and 10% to give. That's not always possible. Some of us have erratic sources of income. But as a rule of thumb, you know, you now have pots like on Monzo. Try and put some pots where you can put 10% of what comes in in a pot to save for a rainy day. And 10% in to be able to give out of that generously. This is in Scripture, Proverbs 21.20. It says, "The why is store up choice food and olive oil, but the fool gulps theirs down." You say, "Well, I can't do that. You don't know my finances. I don't have enough to pay the bills." Well, a good place to start is with a budget. Let me get practical. Jesus is practical around this stuff. Work out your income and your expenditure and adjust accordingly. If you've never done that before, that's relatively straightforward. You can learn how to do that. If the two things don't balance, your income doesn't match your expenditure, you've got a problem and you've got two choices. Either increase your income or decrease your expenditure. It's not a good idea to borrow. Boring beyond your means unless you can repay it is often a really bad idea. The good news is, if you're terrible at this, there will be people sitting next to you or in our community who are really, really good at this. We run, I think, on the money course. It begins on the 10th of October. I've done the money course. I find it really helpful. The material on that helps you walk through the basics of doing a budget. We have an amazing team who are running that online. It's very anonymous. It's not people who are struggling. Actually, everyone should do the money course. It's part of getting your finances right, so they're not a place of fear. They're a place of freedom. Proverbs 27, verse 23 says, "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks. Give careful attention to your herds, your bank balance, your finances, so that you're able to not be held in bondage when that text message comes from the bank. You're like, "Oh, what's happened?" It's not a source of bondage, but a place from which you could operate in blessing. Then the third thing that we're praying for, that we'd move from control to contentment, that we'd move from being controlled by our finances to experiencing contentment in this area. Again, verse 8 of the Corinthians passage we looked at says, "So that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work." I mean, what a life verse. Like, what's your ambition in life? At all times, having all things I need, I'll abound in every good work. In Jesus' name, our men, what we miss is what Paul is talking about is budgeting, finances, giving. You know, it's tempting for us to want to control every aspect of our finances, especially when money is tight. But true peace comes when we trust that God is able to provide. We don't teach as a church, tithing, like how you've got to give 10 cents. Some churches will do that. The rule in the Old Testament was you gave 10%, non-negotiable. But actually, here's our theology, if you're interested. We don't teach tithing, because all I think tithing is sort of legal. It limits and makes it quite transactional. Members, a new Christian, I went to one of my small group leaders, said, "You know, I've become a Christian. I was doing a kind of internship at the time. I didn't have a huge amount of income." I also said, "Look, how much do I give as a Christian?" And he said to me, "Well, what are you asking?" I said, "Well, look, you know, I've read bits in the Bible where it says, "Give 10% of your herbs and your spices and your livestock. I haven't got any herbs, any spices, any livestock. Does that mean I don't have to give?" Basically, what I was asking was, like, how little can I get away with and still be in the club? It was like, do you do like the platinum, gold, silver, paper, bronze? Is it like a guest membership for five years where you pay nothing, pay it when you get to heaven? I was trying to get away with, like, what is it? And the guy just laughed and said, "Don't think about giving." But he explained to me, he said, "Don't worry about this stuff. Just go pray, relax, read the Bible." But then it became apparent, as I read the Bible, that when we become a Christian, 100% of you is given to Jesus. Therefore, 100% of what we have belongs to him. These shoes are not my shoes. They belong to Jesus, actually. The money I have or don't have, the resources I generate of my lifetime, that stuff isn't actually mine. It belongs to Jesus. And so consequently, the New Testament theology around tithing is not that we might negate the law, but Christ comes to free us from the law so that we might be free to exceed the law in our generosity. In other words, start with 100% of your life belongs to God, work out what God might be calling you to give. And as a consequence, in the New Testament, there isn't an example of giving that is less than a time. They were out doing themselves to give more generously. Now, I leave it between you and God. Again, no one's under any compulsion to give. The reason we don't teach a set number is because I want it to be not law, but grace, that the Spirit of God speaks to you. And the same way you don't have to give. You're loved, you're free, you're here. But why wouldn't you want to move from being a consumer to being a contributor, being a spectator to being a participator? It changes how we respond. And it actually leads us to a sense of peace, of contentment. Contentment is shifting the mindset from worrying and controlling and being controlled by our finances, to being content, to give everything we have into the hands of God, and live accordingly. Contentment is about being grateful for what God has given us. Philippians 4 verses 11 and 12, who writes, "I've learned to be content whatever circumstance, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in one." In other words, move from control to contentment to say a little thank you that we're alive today. Thank you that we got shoes on our feet and food in our bellies, and we get to go to carnival, get to hang out with people next to me, get to be part of a community where we're loved, we're accepted. Give thanks to God. Contentment frees us from the endless cycle of comparison and wanting more. You may look at the person next to you and say, well, I know they've got a really good job. They asked them what they did last week, they work in the city, they do this or there. They must be really what they can do, the giving. I'm hoping it'll be on them this Sunday. Don't compare yourself. Each Christmas give what we decide to give in our hearts. Timothy, Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." So we move from control to content. What happens when we do this? We move from those shifts from anxiety to abundance, gods abundance. When we move from a bondage being held in bondage by our finances to saying, I want to upgrade from a mindset of blessing. We move from a place where we feel totally controlled by our finances to a place where we content. What happens is we begin to break the power of materialism over our lives. We bring the idol of money and possessions low. And we put our security in God and we experience freedom in the area of our finances. And here's the thing, like with the tomatoes in Hamilton, you may not see the fruit this year, you may not see the fruit for years to come. What we do in a moment, we write a gift card and we start giving or we stretch our giving or we give a one off gift. You may look at the, well, it shows up in the accounts maybe, we get to the end of the year and we keep going. But that's not how it works. The fruit of what we do when we move from fear to freedom in our finances is measured not in months and financial years, but in decades and generations to come. The fruit of what we sow today won't be seen for generations to come. But rest assured, when we sow generously, we reap a harvest of righteousness in the future. I don't want you to take this from me. Earlier this week, I got a letter which I want to share with you. I received this in the post, it came to our offices, I opened it up. And it's a pack full of wonderful newsletters from the church over the years about the rebuilding of the fire, about the war. During the Second World War about how they kept the church going, the vicar was away in the trenches fighting as a chaplain and everybody ran the church and then a letter from the mayor talking about the rebuilding, encouraging the whole community. They sent us to every resident to give towards the rebuilding of this church. We do wonderful notes and then some records of giving from the mother's union, a little note of I've given top and the mother's union, little notes of giving, diligently of years. I was like, wow, this is amazing. Then I opened up the letter that came with it. And it's from Uncle Peter who writes this. Dear Reverend Gordon and team, I've been going through the affairs of an elderly relative who sadly passed away recently. I came across steamed closed. Rather than throw them away, I thought you might be interested, at least in passing. She'd been brought up in Wenchmore Hill and attended your church until she moved away in her 30s. As her parents did before her and I believe her grandparents before them. Her name was Angela Backhouse, date of birth 18th of December 1935. And her parents Ivy and George Backhouse also worshiped. Does anybody remember Ivy and George? Any remember Angela Backhouse? She was here till the 60s. Even our ten o'clock congregation, something we're here in the 60s, they can't remember Angela. We looked throughout. The records don't actually stretch that far in our parish giving. They've gone to the Hackney Archive now. But Peter writes this. He said, "I was thrilled to see your website and the dynamic and active church you now are. I'd searched with some trepidation, half expecting to see a small congregation in an aging building. Instead, I can see you are fully alive and serving your community thoroughly and no doubt being a blessing to them." Then he writes this. Angela was a committed Christian throughout her life, having started that journey at your church. Her grandparents were also my mother's grandparents. And that same faith is still fully alive in my mother, in my brother, in my life, in my cousin, and indeed in every one of all of our children. Many of us, he goes on a whole leadership roles. I'm a warden at St. Francis Church in Valley Park, Eastley, if you're watching. Thank you for writing. And my brother's son started a full time worship leadership post at Cambridge this month. So he writes, "That's quite a legacy, all stemming from your church." In a sense, sending these remnants of history he writes is irrelevant, as your church clearly lives in the present and the future. But I hope that they might in some way act as an encouragement for your continued work and service. And I pray that God blesses you and your team and all those you minister to today, yours in Christ, Peter. Think about that for a moment. None of us remember, Angela. Can't find her gift card. But wow, look around you at the legacy of what happened to when people saw. I wonder what your great-grandchildren will be sending it. Maybe this that they find in a drawer in your desk. What are you going to sow today? How might you respond with freedom, with generosity, with life, so that in decades to come when no one remembers us, the legacy that we leave behind is one of hope, that we would sow generously. Not under compulsion or reluctantly, but cheerfully, hilariously, like a carnival, not a funeral. Why? Because in years to come when the harvest is plentiful, we look back with gratitude from the other side of eternity. You're going to get to meet people like Angela, people like your children, your children's children, your children's children's spiritual and natural. And they'll probably come up to you and say, "I want to thank you." The gift day, September 2024, when you started giving, you gave that gift. I'm the fruit of that in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, let's take a moment to pray. And in a moment, I'm going to hand over to Naomi. I'm going to get my bicycle, fight through the carnival, get down the shortage. But I want to take a moment to pray for us that we might respond today, not reluctantly, but with faith, with generosity. Come, Holy Spirit, speak to each one of us right now about how we might give. Take a moment, let the Lord give you a number of, maybe, in your head. Not reluctantly, but each of you should give what you decide to give in your heart, let the Lord speak to you right now. And when you've got a number and you're ready, we'll take the cards and we'll begin to fill those in together. I want to end with a prayer of sending nations. Someone sent this to me as a text message this morning, as an encouragement. I want to read this to you. Take the Lord, he prays, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will, all that I have, and I call my own. You've given all to me to you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours, do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. Amen. Thanks for listening to this week's talk. If you'd like to find out more, give or connect with us, visit our website, saint.chat. Have a great week and we'll see you soon. (Music)