Legacy — Part 4 | A Legacy of Grace
If you have been following the Legacy series, you have probably noticed one thing: nothing about generosity actually works if the motivation is wrong. In this final message of the series, Pastor Jess DiSabatino closes with the one thing that changes everything: grace. Real, undeserved, cross-shaped grace. Because a legacy of generosity is not built on guilt, obligation, or clever fundraising. It is built by hearts that have been thoroughly undone by what Jesus already did.
Series: Legacy
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 | Psalm 112:5-6
Pastor: Jess DiSabatino
Date: June 28, 2026
Key Takeaways
Generosity is wired into our eternal design. There is a deep ache inside every human being to matter beyond your temporary existence. That is not ego. It is not just wanting your kids to be proud of you. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has "set eternity in our hearts," which means we were designed to leave something behind. True spiritual legacy is not about carving your name into a plaque. It is about arranging your habits, your rhythms, and your daily choices so that your life leaves long-lasting Kingdom shade for generations you may never meet on earth.
God wants "hilaros" (hilarious) givers, not grumpy ones. In 2 Corinthians 9:7, the Greek word Paul uses for a cheerful giver is hilaros. Not polite. Not obligated. Not resigned. Hilarious. Light. Free. Uninhibited. God explicitly rejects giving that is extracted through pressure or performed under compulsion. Think of it like a balloon. Most Christian giving is smacked-balloon giving: the pastor preaches hard on tithing, the guilt kicks in, the balloon rises, and then a week later it sinks right back down to the floor. What God actually wants is helium-balloon giving. Hearts so saturated with gratitude that they naturally rise into a lifestyle of persistent, unprompted generosity. The goal was never to strong-arm you. The goal was always to reshape you.
Financial capacity does not determine generosity. Paul shatters one of the biggest cultural myths in the church: that only wealthy people can afford to be generous. He points to the Macedonian churches, who were living in extreme poverty, and shows how their severe test of affliction overflowed into a wealth of open-handed giving. You can be financially destitute and spectacularly wealthy in Kingdom impact. You can also be a multi-millionaire and be spiritually bankrupt. Pastor Jess shared the story of Carol, a woman who sat in the third row of her previous church for thirty-two years. Carol was a school secretary. She drove the same car for fourteen years. She was never wealthy by any standard. But she gave quietly, proportionally, and cheerfully every single month. When she passed away, church leadership discovered that Carol's small, faithful gifts had accumulated enough to fully fund three years of the church's children's ministry. An entire generation of adults met Jesus because of Carol's unseen sacrifice. She left shade she would never sit in.
The gospel is the ultimate generator of generosity. The engine driving all Christian open-handedness is one single truth: "Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). We are not dealing with a needy God trying to extract resources from His subjects. We are responding to a Giver who stepped into our spiritual bankruptcy and poured out His life. A fully awakened believer cannot help but mirror that. There is a historic moment where this landed on Count Zinzendorf, a wealthy German aristocrat. As a young man, he stood in front of a painting of Christ before the crucifixion. Beneath the canvas were the words: "All this I have done for you. What have you done for Me?" He was undone. He walked away from his aristocratic luxuries and poured his entire life and fortune into launching the Moravian Missionary Movement, which permanently transformed the Western church. Grace confronts. Grace reshapes. Grace moves.
When the joy of changed lives eclipses the buzz of buying. Grace-based giving reaches maturity when the source of your dopamine changes. The temporary buzz of buying the next shiny thing gets fully eclipsed by the deep, permanent joy of watching a life get mended by the gospel. You cross a threshold where driving an older car or skipping a small luxury is not a sacrifice. It is a trade you gladly make. Alysia's story is what this looks like in real life. She wandered into Journey Church during the chaos of 2020 with zero church background. In a season where fear could have shrunk the church, this family instead stepped up their giving and kept staff deployed. Because of that, resources were available to disciple Alysia deeply. She is now the incoming campus pastor for Recovery Church, positioned to lead a ministry targeting addiction recovery in Calgary. The family trees of hundreds of future individuals are about to shift. That is what legacy looks like. Not money. Not buildings. Reshaped generations. We do not give because Journey has needs. We give because Jesus has given, and we want our hearts where His is. The person who plants a tree today will not sit in its shade. The shade belongs to someone not yet born. But the planting still matters.
