PEOPLE FREED BY GRACE ARE MARKED BY GENEROSITY THE ANTIDOTE TO GREED IS GRACE GREED IS A HEART PROBLEM GREED IS A WILL PROBLEM GREED IS A SOUL PROBLEM 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. GREED IS A HEART PROBLEM ACCORDING TO THEIR MEANS BEYOND THEIR MEANS OF THEIR OWN ACCORD Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 2 Corinthians 8:5 They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. GREED IS A WILL PROBLEM CONTROLLING YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES BECOMES A PROBLEM WHEN IT CONTROLS YOUR LIFE CHOOSING GENEROSITY ISN’T PRIMARILY A GIVING ISSUE, IT’S A LORDSHIP ISSUE GREED IS A SOUL PROBLEM 2 Corinthians 8:8-9 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 9 For you 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.” Philippians 2:6-8 He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. GREED LOSES ITS POWER WHEN WE SEE THE GENEROSITY OF CHRIST