Jesus is our Message
People are our priority
Development is our focus
Unity is our pursuit
Team is our structure
Excellence is our standard
Generosity is our privilege

Last week anomaly - all online! We weren’t able to do the next installment of our Core Values Series.

This week we’ll tackle the last two.

Next week starts a new series called “Good Song, Bad Theology” where we will take a popular song and talk about the message in it and how we can apply good theology to our lives. Don't miss it!

First up, Excellence Is Our Standard

Excellence isn’t perfection. It is consistently giving your very best. We believe that when things are done with excellence, that it inspires people, that it shows that we value them, and ultimately honors God.

This core value is closely tied with the last one on generosity, and even more to our second one, people are the priority.

What you do always tells a story. It sends a message. Remember, people won’t remember what you said or did, but they will remember how you made them feel.

Someone could have a genuine conversation with you and earnestly care about you and try to help you, but if they do it with a condescending attitude, you’ll forget every word they said and only remember how ashamed you felt when they talked.

Why is this true?
Deep in our core we want to be valued and when someone makes us feel not valued, we internalize it and it hurts us.

What does this have to do with excellence?
Giving someone your best effort conveys a message that this is important, you are important, and I’ve committed to giving this the best I can muster.

I first encountered this idea of excellence at New Covenant in Longview.
Not only did NCC operate in a spirit of excellence, they also got us into environments where excellence was an important value.

Remember, excellence is not perfection, it is giving your best effort.

We would go to Gateway Church in Southlake, Tx for a lot of conferences and trainings. One conference I went into the bathroom and there was a staff person wiping down the counter. I told him that every time I’d come to Gateway I was always blown away by how clean the bathroom was. I’d even seen one of their top pastors grab a napkin and wipe up some water.

I told him they did such a great job and how impressed I was.He said something that will stick with me forever:
“I’m not just cleaning a sink. We want you here. I’m trying to do a good job because when the place is clean, it makes people feel welcomed, like we prepared for you to be here.”

He’d realized that his best effort was connected to my feeling welcomed.

THAT is excellence.

In that vein, I want to share two points about excellence before we talk about generosity.

1. Remember for whom you are doing this
Whatever you are doing, remember who you are doing it for. Family? Perhaps. Some really good tackling fuel to help you with a job that isn’t just awesome is to remember that you are working to provide for a family. Those little faces at your house are depending on you! Do your job well!

What about for God?
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Never underestimate the power of a job well done.

What if your level of effort in a job or task had the power to help someone else see who God is?

Just like a bad attitude can spawn bad attitudes, aa good one can spawn good attitudes.

How might your life change if you stopped belly aching about your job and you started working like you were working for Jesus instead?
- What if you were digging a ditch for Jesus, or scanning his groceries?
- What if you were putting a new roof on his house or managing at his business?
- Would you do it differently if Jesus were the beneficiary instead of your boss or shareholders? For Jesus instead of of a teacher or professor?

The quickest route to an excellent spirit is remembering that you are doing what you are doing for Jesus, for the Kingdom. So do it well!
- In the church we want people to feel important and welcomed.
- In your job you want your boss to feel he can count on you and your coworkers to not only enjoy working with you, but aspire to match your work ethic.
- In your house you want your family to feel like it is a team all working together to help out.

An excellent spirit is borne out of the realization that everything you do is for Jesus.

2. Excellence helps everyone get better

Daniel 6:3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

When you are doing what you do with excellence, people notice. Not only do they notice, they are impressed. Not only are they impressed:
- In a corporate setting, they pinpoint you as the person to promote
- In a church setting, it makes people feel special.
- In a family setting, it makes people feel loved.

In the words of Bill and Ted, be excellent.

Ok, let’s chat for a moment about generosity.

Generosity Is Our Privilege

The verb of the Bible is giving, and we are fully aware that God has generously provided everything we have. As a result, we see generosity not as an obligation or from a sense of guilt, but that we should cheerfully, consistently, and sacrificially give our time, talents, and treasure. Jesus gave, and when we give, we are imitating and exemplifying what it means to be generous, as it has been modeled to us by him. Generosity is a privilege, it is our privilege.

Time, talents, treasure. The money part is last. Generosity is so much more than money. When we hear generous, we think someone who gave a lot of money, but what about someone who was willing to serve whenever and wherever, what about someone who said “I have the tools for this, I’m happy to do it!”

They are JUST as generous.

When we pigeon hole generosity to money, we miss opportunities to bless people and the Kingdom with what we have. I saw two quotes this week about generosity that hit me.

"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

"Being generous often consists of simply extending a hand. But that's hard to do if you are grasping tightly to your righteousness, your belief system, your superiority, your assumptions about others, your definition of normal.”

What does the Bible say that is along those lines?
Proverbs 11:24-26 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

A closed fist benefits no one, but an open hand blesses both the receiver and the giver.

What do you have (time, talents, treasure) that you can give to bless others and the Kingdom?

If you want to feel the best you can feel, it comes right after giving.

Here’s a couple thoughts about generosity today

1. Generosity happens when we realize what we’ve been given
Take a breath. God gave that to you.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights
- Everything you have is from God.

Deuteronomy 8:18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth

Remember, generosity is not borne out of obligation or duty. God didn’t send Jesus because he had to. He was being generous.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

When you encounter God’s love, a byproduct is generosity. The reason is because you can’t be generous and unloving. Your generosity starts with his love for you and extends to your love for others. Generosity is borne out of love!

2. Generosity requires us to give ourselves first to the Lord

Your fist act of giving is you to Jesus, not you to someone else. In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul starts by honoring the church in Macedonia
- “in a great trial of affliction and despite their deep poverty abounded in generosity, even beyond their ability, they were freely willing”
- “we didn’t expect it, and they urged us to receive their gift”

2 Corinthians 8:5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

If you want to be a generous person, it has to start with giving yourself to the Lord. Sometimes God asks you to give something that stretches you, challenges you, and if you haven’t started that process by submitting to the Lord, giving yourself to him, then you can’t possibly be generous.

Generosity has the ability to reveal what God you are really serving. If you haven’t given yourself to him, fully trusting him, it will be hard for you to step into that moment of generosity because you will worry how ends will meet.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Excellence. Not perfection, but giving your best.
Generosity. Not just money, but giving what you have.

We want to be excellent in what we do and we want to be generous in what we do.

Why? It reflects who and what the Lord has been to us.

Are there areas of your life where you know you are not giving your best?
- Lord, I will do everything as I am doing it for you.
- Let a spirit of excellence be a reality in my life

Are you being generous with your time, talents, and treasure?
- Lord I confess you are the source of my time, talents, and treasure.
- I receive your love and choose to love
- I choose generosity

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?