Sermon for July 26th (Stewardship of Money)

Do you remember the movie, “Indiana Jones and the temple of Doom”? Indiana Jones is an archeology professor who goes on adventures to find ancient artifacts. In this movie, he secretly enters inside an underground temple to the ominous beating of tribal drums to witness a very scary looking witchdoctor type man in the process of pulling out a still beating heart from a young man’s chest . . . the young man is scared out of his mind, of course, and is screaming and crying and beside himself trying to figure out how he can still be alive while his heart is now beating outside of his body and knowing that he is about to be lowered into this fiery pit as a sacrifice. Sometimes when people talk about money, I feel the same kind of fear and helplessness as that young man must have felt.

Ahhh! How can God expect me to give!! How can God expect me to live without my money!! You all got a little insert today from a Demotivational poster. The picture is of a temple, not unlike that temple Indiana Jones was in, and the caption is “Sacrifice: All we ask here is that you give us your heart.” It’s supposed to be funny, but I’ve always thought it was pretty profound as well. When money is brought up at church, it can feel as if God is trying to pull our still-beating hearts out of our chests!

And I don’t think that this analogy is that far off really. Except that Jesus said it in another way, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destory, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Where your treasure is in this life? Have you been using the money you have according to your plan or according to God’s plan? I’d say most Christians think they are giving all they can. You plan on giving more when you make more money, or when things settle down, or when you’ve bought that “one more thing”, or when the economy gets better. But these things never happen . . . and so you do the next best thing . . . trying to look good enough to others. Lying not only to others (and yourself) but to God. The truth is you will start giving generously when you start working on your relationship with God pure and simple.

How does it feel for you when I talk about your money and your faith? If you feel like I’m going after your heart . . . you just might be right. God is going after your heart. In fact, that’s why God is into this giving thing in the first place: he wants your heart to be focused on him, his purposes and his ways instead of being focused on yourself and your plans.

How do you become free with money? Through a deeper relationship with God. Understanding what is God’s and what is yours. This isn’t really about your money . . . it’s about your heart. If you are making over $50,000 dollars a year and only putting $20 in the offering plate each week you don’t have a money problem—you have a trust problem—a faith problem. This isn’t about giving more or giving enough, it’s about placing your treasure in God’s hands and following His plans instead of your own with the money in your life. God says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” What kind of person are you going to be? Either God is telling the truth or He is lying. The choices you make with your money reflects the state of your heart and your faith in God’s Word.

Proverbs 11: 24 says this, “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly (excessively), but comes to poverty.” This does not make any sense mathematically. You don’t have to have a real grasp of math to get this. If I have ten dollar bills and give them to ten different people freely, not being forced to do this, but freely, how much money do I have? None. That’s right. Except, that the book of proverbs says that giving freely means I will gain more. But if I had kept it, I wouldn’t be broke right now, right? Right. Mathematically, this is correct. But God knows something that accountants can’t put into their variables: the heart.

First of all, God isn’t against saving or investing. Proverbs 21:20 says, “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” Only a fool spends all the money he works for. Jesus said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower (or perhaps retire, I might add). Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicult him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” If you plan on eating, traveling or paying for things when you are retired you ought to save for it. Charles Wesley, the great theologian and founder of the Methodist church once said, “Work all you can, save all you can and give all you can.”

But, according to proverbs, money has two dynamics. One is numerical and the other is cardiological-the logic of the heart. We all know that saving is important, but we can usually recognize when the mathematics make sense but the heart is out of whack. The most famous example of this is Ebenezer Scrooge in the Christmas Carol whose miserly love of money leaves him struggling through a nightmare of epic proportions when he realizes that his piles of cash aren’t going to mean a hill of beans at his death. He doesn’t have a money problem, he has a heart problem. And just as the proverb said, “when you withold unduly (excessively), you come to poverty.” Where is your heart? Is it tied up in your retirement fund? Your car payments? Mortgage? Or is it free to follow God’s purposes?

God calls us to keep our hearts free and our hands open. And you need to start now, not sometime in the future. The author Jon Acuff writes, “Sometimes it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that giving is something that will come later. And when we talk about later, it’s fun to imagine how generous future me is going to be. ‘Right now, giving doesn’t really fit into the plan. But in the future? Down the road? I’m going to be like Bill Gates! I’ll probably just rent a hot-air balloon and drop stacks of cash out of it. I’ll play Natasha Bedingfield music as I do, just to get people dancing and really enjoying the full depth of my amazing generosity. Gonna change the world, man, really change the world.’ But you know the truth about ‘future me’? He or she is incredibly slippery. Just when you think the future has finally arrived, something else comes up. Something more important or critical or . . . well, I can start giving later. Later is a make-believe land that never comes. Future me is a make-believe person who never really gives. The truth is, future me won’t know how to be generous with a lot unless present me learns how to be generous with a little.”

In the Acts story, Ananias and Saphira proabbly figured that, in the future, they’d be able to be more generous. But they NEEDED that extra money more now than they had originally thought. If we follow our plans, we’ll always find something we need more. But God says that if we follow His plans for His money, we’ll have all that we need to get through each day.

We read in Acts about what a community of people with free hearts looks like, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” The way you interpret this phrase makes a big difference. For example, any good socialist would think that that phrase sounded pretty good, “No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Except, in place of ME owning my possessions, they’d place the state. The state would now own everything I had and distribute the wealth as it saw fit. Or, perhaps, in place of the state, they would place someone else such as, my neighbor, saying that everything I own is in fact my neighbors to choose what to do with it. Both such cases have nothing to do with what God is saying here.

On the other hand, our beloved American capitalism isn’t actually the alternative God is suggesting either. Being a capitalist doesn’t make you somehow “Christian”. “No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own.” Private ownership is not somehow the Godly alternative. So then, what is this referring to? The only way you can be free with your money is if God owns it. As long as we are focused on you owning your money, you will not be free with it. As long as the state owns it or you are forced to give it to the needy, you will be bitter. Only when you realize that your money is not your own are you free to give freely. As Acts goes on to say, “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” It’s much easier, even freeing, to spend someone else’s money. (Story of the 50 golden coins)

This week, take a moment of your time after this service, this afternoon or tomorrow, and ask God what he’d like you to do with His money. What are His plans? Keep asking and wait until you hear clearly what you are being called to do. Don’t focus on the money, focus on your relationship to God—on your heart. Stop worrying about how to spend your money and start paying attention to God’s plan for His money. “For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Amen.

Sermon for August 22nd (Sent Out To Give)

I have a single goal today. When you leave church this morning, I want you to be focused on the freedom you have in Christ. I want you to leave this building today with a smile on your face knowing that your Lord Jesus Christ became poor so that you might become rich. My dad used to say that there are two states of wealth: no money and not enough money. I’d like to propose a third state: rich! Sometimes that involves lots of 0’s and often it does not. As Paul points out about the Macedonian church, “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” I want you to leave here today rich and free.

Not so that you might feel bad, or guilty or wrong for being rich, but so that you might really and truly believe that God can provide and has provided you with everything that you need or want with 0’s at the end! Because God loves you that’s why! I want you each to have the knowledge that you are leaving here today rich and that God has given you the freedom to use the money he has blessed you with—no strings attached. Is it dangerous to say that? Yes.

This is not your parents’ stewardship sermon. It’s much more dangerous than that. My goal is that you will leave today free. I do not want to put any burdens on you or make demands on your money because God does not. Is that dangerous to say? Yes. If you do not feel that you HAVE to give, this church may fall into disrepair. The lights might be turned off. Ministries might end all because you heard that your salvation is not dependent on your giving.

If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything to be saved, you could do anything, couldn’t you, including never getting a penny and yet continuing to hear that God loves you unconditionally? Is that dangerous? Yes. So let’s dangerous today. Because it is the truth and I pray that this truth sets you free. The danger is worth it because you might finally realize that just as salvation is free of charge so is church. It’s free. You don’t HAVE to give, you CHOOSE to. Jesus Christ didn’t HAVE to die for you; it was necessary for him to die on the cross because he CHOSE to love you and forgive you. And when you leave today knowing that you don’t have to give anything, what will you do? You’ll have the opportunity, the choice to give, so that others might hear the promise of salvation. And it won’t be about just today’s offering plate, but about how you want to live and give the rest of your life. You don't come in to give, you are sent out to give.

I believe that Jesus has a much bigger goal in mind for your life and for your money than a ten percent tithe. He referred to a widow who gave all she had, two pennies, as a model to be followed. He demanded that a rich young ruler give all his possessions to the poor. In the gospel of Luke, he said, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” You think God wants 10%? You are wrong. He wants everything that you have. 100%. It’s not about your money, it’s about your faith. When you live your life in faith, every dollar you have is an opportunity. To enjoy the life God gave you, to bless your children and to be sent out in mission for Christ.

There are two main issues when it comes to giving: Having the tools to give and having the faith to give. What do I mean by tools? Having a plan and sticking to a budget for example. Giving you the tools to give involves a lot of things: helping you make good career choices, encouraging hard work, supporting good pay practices, helping you make a budget, looking at long term financial planning and getting out of debt.

Over the next thirteen weeks, you can learn some tools and techniques for managing your money in a program we are holding here called, “Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.” There are no doubt many great ways to get control of your money that I don’t know of, but this is one that I know works and so I encourage you to do it. If you are having trouble in your life because of money or if you simply want to use your money more effectively to carry out your goals, come to this course and get the tools. You’ll hopefully find the freedom to live and give like you’ve always wanted to.

Why are tools important? Well, even if you desire to do something you need the right tools to get r’ done. Last week, on the way to breakfast, I had a flat tire (the first of three that morning by the way) and I wanted to change it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the tools to do it because the bolts were rusted stuck. Thankfully, one of the men in the men’s Bible Study had an impact wrench. Without this tool, it wouldn’t have mattered how much I wanted or desired to change that tire. I simply would not have been able to. I know that some of you want to give, but you can’t figure out how you would be able to with the way your finances are going right now. What might you do with the right tools?

When Kristy and I first started ministry in Connecticut, we wanted to tithe, but we were using our credit card even to go out to eat. We didn’t have any money to do what we wanted! We decided to tithe anyway, but that credit card bill made giving seem like a huge sacrifice. Once we started this Dave Ramsey thing, got on a budget and told our money where to go, we put the money into tithing BEFORE the month started. When we made a budget, got on a plan and stuck to it, we found there was more money there than we thought. We finally found freedom and that made giving a joy and not a curse. We could start living according to what was important to us rather than feeling “poor”.

However, giving is not just about tools—it is also about faith. I want to expose you today to something Dave can’t give you—the faith to give. Faith comes from God alone. Not from feeling guilty about not giving. Not from feeling shamed for not giving enough in the past. The faith to give comes from God and only from God.

How many of you are excited about Tax Day? Not many. And yet, when the moment is right, you’d give all you had for a friend. You’ll never find joy in being generous by following particular laws or commands. That’s why the apostle Paul points to an impoverished church in Macedonia as a symbol of hope for us saying that when this church found freedom in Christ they became rich in generosity. When you hear and believe what Jesus has done for you, I believe that you will find yourselves rich and generous as well. You won’t be able to help yourself.

Why? Because freedom alone leads to generosity. Only when you realize that you are free can you feel the joy of generosity. But the Devil doesn’t want you to know all this, you see. He wants you to stay away from hearing God’s word, from sharing God’s love and involving yourself with a church or with ministry because of those little offering plates over there. He wants you to feel poor whether you’ve got a little or a lot. He wants you to believe that you don’t have enough.

The Devil makes us believe that a 10% tithe is impossible, a ridiculous demand, even though through the abundance of God, many of you might spend that much going out to eat each month. Stewardship is not about money—it’s about having the faith to give and learning the tools to put that faith into practice. Paul told the Corinthians, if you have the desire (the faith) to give, then finish the work (find the tools) so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.” It’s not about how much, but having the faith to give.

But the Devil wants you to believe differently. He wants you to believe that your faith has nothing to do with your money. The Devil wants you to believe that you can be a Christian on the inside and never let it show on the outside. But faith involves everything you have: your heart, your mind, your actions and yes your money too. The Devil is a liar. But what does God say? “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, Says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Give me ten percent and I’ll give you 110%. Test me and prove me to be a God of abundance in your life.

Giving is not a salvation issue. Jesus’ death on the cross gives you eternal life with God. Your trust in that gift seals the deal. There is nothing left to be done . . . so what are you going to do? Giving is not a salvation issue for you, but your gifts are used for God’s ministry. We are called in to be sent out. We don’t come in to give, we are sent out to give. Let me say that again, We don’t come in to give, we are sent out to give. To share the gift of salvation with others, to feed those who cannot find food, to heal those who are sick

It’s only by faith that you can give, when you believe that being a Christian is more than just a name, but a way of life. When you start realizing that you really are free from sin, death and the power of the Devil. Then your money becomes a tool that you can use to do what you think is important in this world, whether it is to build a hospital to care for those that are sick, pay for your child’s college education or send out missionaries to the ends of the earth. It’s your freedom, it’s your money and it’s your choice. By His death on the cross, Jesus has give you freedom, and by His poverty He has made you rich. Amen.