All Year Stewardship

June 28, 2015 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 All Year Stewardship 5th Sunday after Pentecost Year B There are a lot of hot button issues going on in the world today: we continue to grapple with the senseless murder of 9 African Americans while in bible study. We continue to see the pervasive affects of racism in our community, the state is approaching a deadline for approving a budget that could threaten critical programs in our community, and it seems that the debate over the supreme court decision to legalize gay marriage has just begun. All of these topics are worthy of a sermon, and I think in the near future it will be important for us to talk about all of these things. But today I want to talk about another sensitive issue in the the church - money. People in the church and outside get nervous when you start asking for money in church, or when you publicly admit that the church is short on funds for day to day expenses. People don’t want to hear a sermon on the need to give more money – but we welcome a sermon on how to put more money in our pockets. What we don’t realize, is that is the same conversation. For some reason, we don’t want to understand that the way we spend our money is not just a spiritual issue- it is the most important spiritual issue. If I can get a look at your checkbook, I know all about you. I know how you spend your time, I know what your priorities are, I know what you put first in your life. I can even tell your relationship with God. Where is God in our financial priorities? What promises have we made to God. I read an interesting article recently, and the author says that God knows that there is no other way to pull our strings and to get our attention than to mess with our money. Ron Blue is a Christian publisher, he says that God uses money in three ways – as a tool, as a test, and as a testimony. Money makes the world go round – money buys food, money pays bills, money can provide for the basic and not so basic needs of life. God needs money to build the kingdom. It takes bricks and mortar to build a house, it also takes money. Money is a tool to get God’s work here on earth done. Money is a test – our free will allows us to make choices, or faith helps us to make the right choices. We can use money in a way that helps us or in a way that hurts us. And finally, money is a testimony. When the money is flowing correctly, things are going well, when things are going well – we have a testimony to how Good God is. Everyone one in a while – money is comes as a blessing to us. As you look at your personal finances – as we look at our church finances – we hve to ask ourselves – is money a tool, a test, a testimony – or all three. I don’t believe that there are concidences in the world – so I believe that there is a reason why 2 Corinthians 8 was a part of the lectionary today. As you may know, Paul was not one of the original 12 disciples. So even though he had a powerful ministry amongst the gentiles, he was not accepted in Jerusalem. So when he did meet with the other disciples at the first church council – he pledged that he would get the gentile churches to commit to helping the widows in Jerusalem. A gentile is simply anyone who does not have jewish roots. It seemed like a good idea at the time for the Corinthians to go along with it. But when they got mad and fell out with Paul – they forgot about their commitment to give. So when they reconciled with Paul – they still didn’t go back to giving to the mission. So Paul had to write this gentle reminder to stick with their commitment and to give. So we have one of the clearest messages about stewardship in the bible. Apparently, the Corinthian church was very well off, when they committed to help. Paul brings up the Macedonion church, as an example for them. The Macedonians, had also made a pledge. And in the midst of financial hardship they still were able to give. I am reminded of a conversation that I had with a pastor of a large suburban church. Who was in a total panic because his church was not meeting his budget. He was going to not only cut the church budget, but also cut his own salary. In a total panic, he told me that I would not understand the financial problems that his church faced. I actually told him that I did not. My church faced financial crisis for years, but if I focused on the money issues, and no ministry the church would have been closed a long time ago. Many of the large churches are like the Corinthian church- they think that the sky is falling because of budget issues. Paul says that the difference between the Corinthian church and the macedonion church is that the macedonion church made a pledge to make a difference, and that pledge helped them to give the little money that they had, even if they had to give sacrificially. For them money was a spiritual commitment that they had to keep. When we ask people to fund a failing budget, you never get a positive response – when you ask people to fund God’s dream with the tools that they have – you get a response. Paul also gives us three rules for using money – First he reminds us to give out of what we have and not out of what we don’t have. If you have 100,000 in the bank, give 10,000 to God. if you have $100 then give $20 to the church. If you only have a dollar then only give 20 cent. It is not about what you don’t have, but what you have. It is in chapter 9 that Paul says that God loves a cheerful giver. But he starts that conversation here by saying that give only what makes you comfortable. If you are angry and upset, then don’t give. And finally he says that what we give is a more a matter of the heart. It is how we give and not what we give that makes a difference. Paul remind us that jesus who was rich, made himself poor so that those who are poor could have a chance to be rich. If Jesus made an investment in us,we can make an investment in others. Finally he makes it very clear that giving is a spiritual discipline. If we can excel in our faith, our speech our knowledge, our ability to show love, then we can excel in our ability to give. The question for a Christians is not are you saved, it is how much did you give? Because when we understand what it means to be a Christian, we understand what it means to give. And we understand that our giving is a part of our who we are. Even the jews on holidays, you were supposed to find someone poorer then you and give them a give – it didn’t have to be much, but it had to be from the heart. 6041 Pledge For Other Things He said he wouldn’t make a pledge Unto the church at all, That he would give just when he felt The urgency—the call. But still he bought a car and pledged To pay it off some day. And then a house in which to live And each month he would pay. He pledged to pay his telephone, Electric and his gas: He pledged to pay his water bill— He never let it pass. He pledged to pay his taxes, too, Upon his house and sod, But not one cent he’d ever pledge To the house of God. We make a pledge to give God what is left over, not what come first. I was excited when I read them passage, because it reminded me that we need to make stewardship a year long conversation. It is time for us to make a new budget, so it is time for us to start our pledge process. But it is important for us to talk about giving to God on a regular basis. Not only do I need to plan more sermons on giving, but we need to hear from givers in the congregation. We need to hear from those who tithe. Remember I said that the conversation to give more is also the conversation to receive more. There is what is called the tithing surprise 1845 Tithing Surprises The Christian who tithes will be surprised: (1) At the amount of money he has for the Lord’s work, (2) At the deepening of his spiritual life in paying the tithe, (3) At the ease in meeting his own obligation with the nine-tenths, (4) At the ease in going from one-tenth to a larger percentage, (5) At the preparation this gives to be a faithful and wise steward over the nine-tenths remaining, (6) At himself for not adopting the plan sooner! Tithing is not a requirement, Paul says give from what you have. Jesus says that if you have more than a tenth to give, then God will gladly take it. But it is a spiritual discipline. A pastor made a commitment that at least one third of his sermons for the year would be on money. The result was not a mass exodus from the church because of anger, but actually those who heard those sermons on a regular basis better understand money as a spiritual discipline. They understood why they were giving to God, and they saw the results in their lives to trusting God and not focusing in what they did not have. I plan to do the same within the next year. I am not sure that it will be every third sermon, but it will be more than what we have now. And we will hear from others and how and why they too give, not to fix our budget,but to further our mission. Paul encourages us to excel in everything that we do. And as you excel in everything spiritual, we should excel in generosity. Excel in our giving. Paul says that God has a way of evening out the score for everybody. When we give to others, God pays us back for our effort. Paul quotes exodus 16:18 when gathering manna from heaven, those who gathered much, did not have enough to store up, and those who did not gather much seemed to have enough. All had what they needed. When God asks us to give to help build the kingdom – we want us to create a world where all have enough. God blesses us, so that we can bless others. . A psychiatrist in Princeton, New Jersey, illustrated this poignantly. "A few years ago (he) received one of those "strike it rich" sweepstakes letters from LIFE magazine. It read, "You have been selected as the fortunate participant in a special offer which could make you the richest person in Princeton. Your name will soon be listed among the wealthy and prestigious people of Princeton. All you have to do is take a six-year subscription to LIFE and your name will be added to the drawing. You may win!" "The psychiatrist wrote a response to this offer which was a gem of rhetoric. "In your letter, you offer to make me the richest man in Princeton. I want you to know that I am the richest man in Princeton. In addition to this, I enjoy a quality of life so exciting, it makes LIFE magazine read like an Old Mother Goose story. For all these good reasons, I am asking you to remove my name from that silly contest -- a contest which cannot possibly do me any good because all it offers if money. Who needs it when (one) has life -- and I don't mean your magazine." (Lloyd John Ogilvie, Let God Love You. The way that we spend our money is indeed a spiritual discipline. Whether we are rich or poor has more to do with the condition o f our heart not our pocket book. Paul encourages us to be rich in all things – in order to do that we have to be rich in our giving to God. Let us pray….. Children’s Sermon…….. Two brothers – There were two brothers who shared a room with each other. In the early years they shared everything. Each of them had free reign of everything that was there. They played with each other’s toys and got along perfectly. Until the day one of them got a play station for Christmas. And the brother decided that he didn’t want to share – it was his for his benefit. This started each of them as defining their property. And putting stipulations on using their stuff. At one time they got along, but this caused them to distrust one another and to constantly bicker. One day, they agreed to put a line down the middle of the room. And each were instructed to stay on their side of the room. Soon these two brothers became enamies, who not only refused to share, who not only fought constantly, but who eventually stopped speaking, and lived separate lives, even though they lived in the same room. They each were forced to fend for themselves, and faced life all alone. Both lost sight of what it meant to give and to help others. Other illustrations You see a person's wealth does not consist in what he has in terms of material possessions and security, but in who we know ourselves to be, and the inner resources we have cultivated by our relationship to Christ Do you know what the doctor is talking about? Our wealth does not consist in what we have in the way of material possessions and security, but in who we know ourselves to be and the inner resources we have developed by our relationship to Jesus Christ. Narrowing that focus, let me put it this way: A person's wealth, you see, consists not alone in what he has, but in the love he shows. We're rich or poor according to the depth of our compassion. Paul makes this clear when he compares the grace of God working in the Macedonians with the grace of Jesus Christ. See it there in verse 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 by his poverty, you might become rich." Alan Paton once said the key question for a Christian is not "Am I saved?", but "Am I giving?". I'm not sure I would put it just that way, but there's no question about it -- if you want to test your salvation, test your giving. If you are not growing in your giving -- not just of your money -- but of your time and talent, of your whole self; then you might well question your Christian experience. "Out of the period of the Civil War, there comes a tale that sums this up. A shack just off the highway had housed a hermit for more than a generation following the War. The hermit's origin had become a legend. Essentially it told the story of his past. During the War, the man's father, who could not bear sending his son off to war, had paid another man to serve for that son. The War ground to its close, and most of the others from the town returned. The substitute who had gone to serve never returned. Brooding over what happened to the man who had taken his place, the son withdrew from society and lived the remainder of his life a babbling, bungling shell of his former self. In one of his more lucid moments, he spoke the words which constituted his biography: "I died the day I received my exemption papers." (Donald Shelby, "Be Responsible") It's a parable. None of us are exempt from life, from giving and serving. When we think we are, we die. We may even die eternally. 6026 Meaning Of Stewardship A man doesn’t decide to become a steward after he has been saved, nor after he begins to make good money. He is a steward—good or bad—when he becomes a Christian. Stewardship in the Christian life demands that a man take good care of his financial affairs because he has been commissioned by Christ to manage those affairs for the Lord. Leftovers are such humble things, We would not serve them to a guest, And yet we serve them to our Lord Who deserves the very best. We give to Him leftover time, Stray minutes here and there, Leftover cash we give to Him, Such few coins as we can spare. We give our youth unto the world, To hatred, lust and strife; Then in declining years we give To Him the remnant of our life. —Author Unknown —Selected