Sermon for April 19th

I’ve been noticing each week that we are not coming very close to meeting our budget. I also refuse to give some kind of motivational pep talk to get you all to give more. Not only would I not be very good at it, but I don’t think that it would work! On the one hand, whether or not I become anxious about the amount of money given, whether or not I try and do something about it as your pastor, eventually, the scarcity of money in the church’s bank account will create problems that I will not be able to avoid discussing. On the other hand, I also refuse to put you all on a guilt trip about giving because this technique might backfire, not only on me but, much more importantly, it might create problems with your relationship with God.

So, I’ve been praying about this and slowly preparing a sermon over the past few weeks to talk about the subject. You see, I realized that all of you probably know already that we are not meeting the budget. I also realize that, if you could, you would give more. You love this church and the ministries happening here. In fact, you’d like to see MORE happening here. You also don’t want to feel bad for doing what you’ve already been doing—which is everything you can do. You are giving all that you can give. If I came by your house, and asked you to increase your offering or give some big lump sum of money as a donation, I bet that most of you would say, “I wish I could, but I can’t!” And I believe you. I believe you. Right now, I don’t think you can.

For most of you, there are two reasons why you can’t: the first is that you don’t have enough money left at the end of the week or at the end of the month to give more. Second, even if you did have some leftover, you don’t know how you would survive if you gave it for Saint Peters and its ministries instead of using it yourself.

Let me describe this issue in terms of tithing, the Christian discipline of giving 10% of your income to the church and its ministries. The concept behind tithing is that since God is giving you everything, you are called upon to give ten-percent of what you are earning to support your local congregation and, through that ministry, help those in your community, your country and around the world. Tithing is a great idea, but it can seem almost impossible to do. Why?

Well, first off, how many of you end each month with 10% of your income leftover? Let me put that into numbers. Let’s say that you make $1000 dollars a week, either single or as a couple, that’s $4000 or $5000 dollars a month, or around $52,000 dollars a year. Some of you probably make more, some less, I understand, so bump the numbers up or down. After taking out 15% for taxes, that means that you take in about $850 dollars a week as a household. Ten percent of that would be around $85 dollars. How many of you have an extra $85 dollars a week or $340 dollars every month just laying around with nothing to do? And even if you did have $340 dollars leftover each month, would you feel comfortable financially giving all of that to Saint Peters? Probably not.

But that’s NOT how tithing works. In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to give ten percent of their land and flocks to the temple right off the top. They were supposed to give God the best of their land and flocks, not the leftovers. But instead, being sinners like you and me, they’d sacrifice the sick lambs, they’d give the land where nothing would grow, they’d give whatever they had that they figured they could live without. And God hated it! Listen to his words from the book of Malachi, “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces; the dung of your offerings, and will put you out of my presence.” Pretty strong words from a pretty unhappy God.

Tithing doesn’t mean giving 10% of your income IF you have it to give; tithing means planning on giving 10% of your income each week or month and then doing it. That’s the first reason why you might have such a difficult time tithing or giving to the church, you haven’t planned on it. You look at all the bills and expenses, like groceries and mortgages and credit card bills, and there is never 10% left to give. So should you or I be surprised when you don’t have any money to give anymore? I’m not. I’m not surprised at all.

As your pastor, though, it is NOT my job to make you feel guilty for not tithing. It is my job to give you the tools to be able to tithe if you wanted to. It IS my job to equip you to be able to give joyously as God meant for you to give because many of you want to give but can’t figure out how. It is my job to equip you to pay your bills, feed your kids, and not to worry every month about how to stay afloat.

Starting on June 9th, this summer, Saint Peters is hosting a shortened version of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. The point of the program is to get you on a budget so that you can start an emergency fund and then pay off all of your debt. After this, you save three to six months of expenses, save for college, pay off the house and build up your retirement. It’s not a get rich quick scheme; it takes a lot of hard work.

The program is about equipping you with the tools to make a plan for your money, down to every last penny, so that when you feel like paying your monthly mortgage, or buying a car, or paying for your kid’s college, or giving to your church, you’ll be able to without worrying about it. You won’t be a slave to your lenders, as the book of Proverbs warns about. You’ll be the master of the money God provides for you. If the discipline of tithing has always boggled your mind, if you’ve never figured out how in the world to actually have more money than month, I pray that this program will give you the tools to be financially fit. You’re not going to be told what to do with your money, that’s your choice, paying the bills, tithing, going out to eat, you have to decide what important to you. The program will teach you how to tell your money what you want it to do for you instead of simply reacting to the demands in your life.

But, as I said before, there are two reasons why most of you cannot give any more to your church. The first is because you never planned on it and you don’t know how to budget for it. The second reason is that, even if you did have extra money, you are afraid to give it the church. This is primarily a trust issue. In other words, even if you COULD plan on tithing 10% of your money to your church, you don’t have faith that God would provide for you to do it. Even if you are making much more than $52,000 dollars a year. This is finally the reason why I brought up this issue at all today. It’s an issue of faith.

You see, I don’t know who gives and who doesn’t. I don’t know how much you individually give or how much you don’t. When I see the total amount received each week, it shows up just like it does for you in the bulletin, as one lump sum. And, to be quite honest with you, I don’t really care about those numbers, because how much you give as a congregation does not tell me much about where you stand in your relationship to God. However, as I watched the numbers getting low and staying there, I began to realize that the numbers were telling me something and it really didn’t have much to do with our church and its budget. It had to do with you and why you couldn’t give. You couldn’t give because you didn’t have the tools to plan on it and you couldn’t give more because you couldn’t trust God to provide for you and your families. Especially in an economic downturn.

Blame it on the economy, blame it on the recession, blame it on the housing market or blame it on the unemployment rate, but there is a lot of fear in our country and a lot of fear in this church, a lot of fear in your hearts. And when you are afraid, there’s not a lot of joyful giving that’s going to be going on. In fact, you’d have to be MORE scared of the church closing than losing your job or losing your house in order to give more and THAT probably isn’t going to happen. So, as your pastor, I am called to speak to these fears and tell you what Jesus is going to do about it.

Jesus says, “Peace. Peace be with you. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross and after three days of being dead God raised him to life. Do you really think that your financial predicament frightens God? Jesus came to earth and made you a promise, “I have come so that you might have life and have it abundantly.” Who is it that created the job that you have or the job that you worked at during your working years? Who is it that provides the food that you eat, the car that you drive, the children that you raised and the air that you breathe? Do you really think that he will not provide you with the money that you need to live life and live it abundantly? Do not be afraid. Do not doubt but believe.

When Jesus met his disciples in the upper room after his resurrection, they were so scared of the Jews that they were unable to function. Jesus came into their fear and said this, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” What do you think Jesus has to say when he stands here in our midst, where we are so frightened to give that our church cannot even meet our budget? It shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He’s not going to browbeat you. He’s not going to swat you on the rear end. He says, “Peace. Peace be with you.”

Jesus came down so that you might have life and have it abundantly. How did this happen? Through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ on the cross and then his resurrection from the dead. You have been brought into this community of believers for a purpose. And God did not send you, and me and this church into the world to be afraid. He has given you the money to live, the money to give, the tools to budget that money and the peace to do so joyously and unafraid. Putting extra money into the plate today isn’t the goal of this sermon. If you haven’t budgeted it, how do you know how much you can give? I pray that God might free you from the fear of giving. I pray that you might learn to tell your money what to do. As a church we are striving to help you do this by offering some tools to help. I pray that God will create the faith in your heart to use your money as you choose: not out of fear, but out of faith. Amen.