Sermon for March 10th

“Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!” Says the Lord. “But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

The word stewardship gets thrown around a lot in church, but I don’t really think most of us understand what “stewardship” means. Let me give you an example of what a steward is. Right now, I am going to take out ten dollar bills and give it to one of you. I am going to say this, “Could you please take care of this for me.” However, I’m not going to ask for it back, even though it’s mine. In fact, I want you to use it. I also want you to remember something very important—that ten dollars is not yours. It’s mine. You are simply taking care of it for me. In biblical times, they would call a person who did this the “steward” of my money. The steward can use the money, but they do not own the money.

Because that ten dollars is mine, that I am giving to you to take care of for me, I have some directions for you on how to use it. Because it’s mine. I’d like you to take one dollar bill and place it in the offering plate in order to encourage the ministries here at Saint Peters. You can put more than that in if you’d like, but all I’m asking is to put one dollar bill in the offering plate tonight. One out of the ten. With the other nine dollars, you can do whatever you want. You can save it. You can waste it. You can spend it. You can give it away. Remember, it’s MY money. But . . . I’m letting you use it. Here we go . . . . (Money gets handed out)

Now. Here’s my question. What will happen if, after the service tonight, I don’t find one of my dollar bills in the offering plate? How do you think that I will feel about that? I’ve made it very clear that while the money I just gave away is a gift, there are directions about how to use it. How would you feel if you let someone watch over your money and they used it in a way that was not in line with how you wanted it used? I’d feel frustrated. Disappointed and, maybe, even a little angry.

The Lord spoke through the prophet Malachi saying, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” God has given us all a lot more than ten dollars. A lot more. And, furthermore, he has given us a lot more than simply money. He has blessed us with long lives, bodies that can work hard, minds that can process great amounts of information and spiritual gifts to serve on another with. But He has also made something very clear: your money, your time, your bodies, your minds, your gifts and your lives are not your own. You are the stewards of these gifts. God gives you all these things to use, but He is their rightful owner.

And He has some directions for you. You’ve heard some of these directions before I hope. Honor your Father and Mother. You shall not kill. Love your neighbor as yourself. Glorify God in your body. Another commandment that was given to the Israelites, referred to by Jesus and carried on by many Christians today is called tithing: giving ten percent of your income to your local church to support its ministries. Out of every ten dollars you earn, one dollar is to be put in the offering plate. We are called to do these things God has directions for us on how to use the gifts he has given.

Tonight, through the prophet Malachi, God calls us all to make an accounting of how much we have stolen from God. And to stop stealing from Him. Have you given money to the church as you have been directed? Have you given your time and talents? Have you been glorifying God in your body? So many of us argue that we just can’t do these things! We don’t have enough time to think let alone serve at the soup kitchen. We’ve got too many things to do on Sunday mornings that church just gets in the way. How can we give ten percent of our income when we don’t have enough as there is! God says this: “Put me to the test.”

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” Try me! God says. Stop stealing my money, my time my gifts that I have given you and see if you will really become destitute and overworked as you imagine. “Just try me and prove me wrong!” God promises that when you follow his directions for His gifts, you will find that there is always more than enough left over for you. In fact, Jesus maintains that the better you follow God’s directions on how to use his gifts, the more He will trust you with greater gifts. These gifts are not yours! They are God’s. You are only the stewards. “Return to me and I will return to you," the Lord says, "and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing .” Amen.