Keep It 100! Pt. 3What YOU Really Want From Me?

By Pastor Med | Westside Church

As we continue our Keep It 100! series, we’ve been wrestling with some honest questions about ownership, stewardship, generosity, and surrender.

In Week 1, we asked:

“God, whose stuff is this?”

Psalm 24:1 gave us the answer:

“The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord.”

Everything belongs to God.

Our families. Our gifts. Our time. Our opportunities. Our money. Our very lives.

Then in Week 2, we asked:

“God, what do You want me to do with Your stuff?”

Jesus challenged us in Luke 16 to be faithful stewards and reminded us not to “bury the bag.” Everything we have has been entrusted to us by God, and He calls us to manage it faithfully.

This week, we went one step deeper.

We asked:

“God, What Do You Really Want From Me?”

Underneath every conversation about generosity, tithing, stewardship, and giving is a much bigger question:

What does God actually want from me?

The answer may surprise you.

God is not after a percentage.

He’s after a people transformed by grace.

Grace Produces Surrendered Generosity

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul points to the churches in Macedonia as an example of extraordinary generosity.

What’s remarkable is that these believers were experiencing severe hardship and extreme poverty. Yet they responded with joy and generosity.

Why?

Because grace had transformed their hearts.

Before they gave money, they gave themselves.

Paul writes:

“They gave themselves first to the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 8:5)

That’s the heart of biblical generosity.

God doesn’t simply want something from us.

He wants us.

Our hearts.

Our trust.

Our worship.

Our surrender.

Money simply reveals whether those things belong to Him.

Grace Produces Greater Generosity

One of the most common questions Christians ask is:

“Do I have to tithe?”

When we look carefully at Scripture, we discover that tithing existed before the Law, became part of Israel’s covenant under the Law, and is never explicitly commanded for New Testament believers.

But that doesn’t mean generosity becomes less important.

In fact, grace pushes us beyond minimum requirements.

Healthy fathers don’t ask:

“What’s the least I can do and still be considered a good dad?”

Love doesn’t operate by minimums.

Love moves beyond obligation.

The same is true for followers of Jesus.

The question isn’t:

“How little can I give?”

The question is:

“What is God’s grace producing in my life?”

Grace Produces Deliberate Generosity

Paul tells believers:

“Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Biblical generosity is neither careless nor coerced.

It isn’t emotional manipulation.

It isn’t guilt.

It isn’t pressure.

Instead, it is thoughtful, prayerful, intentional worship.

Paul rejects two unhealthy extremes:

• Self-centered consumer Christianity

• Manipulative church culture

Both miss God’s heart.

True generosity is sacrificial, consistent, faith-filled, and joyful.

Why?

Because it reflects the heart of God Himself.

Stewardship Is Ultimately a Lordship Issue

At its core, stewardship isn’t really about money.

It’s about lordship.

Jesus said:

“You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

The biggest questions aren’t:

• How much should I give?

• Should I tithe?

• Where should I give?

The bigger questions are:

• Who is Lord of my life?

• Who determines my priorities?

• Who has my allegiance?

• Who owns me?

Those are the questions Jesus is after.

Because your money will always follow what you worship.

What Does God Really Want?

Paul answers the question in one simple verse:

“They gave themselves first to the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 8:5)

That’s it.

That’s the answer.

God wants:

• Your heart

• Your trust

• Your worship

• Your surrender

• Your life

The Gospel isn’t that Jesus gave 10%.

The Gospel is that Jesus gave Himself.

He gave His body.

He gave His blood.

He gave His life.

And now He calls His people to respond to His grace with lives that are fully surrendered to Him.

Not 10%.

100%.

Reflection Questions

• What area of my life is hardest to surrender to God?

• What does my relationship with money reveal about my heart?

• Am I asking what I have to do, or what grace is producing in me?

• Is Jesus truly Lord over every area of my life?

Final Thought

The question is not:

“How little can I give?”

The question is:

“What does God’s grace produce?”

And the first answer is always surrender.

God, You can have me. All of me. 100%.