Week 19 Stewardship RUMC 3/12/2016

Week 19 Stewardship

RUMC 3/12/2016

Joe had a problem, so he took it to his pastor. “Pastor, I am having trouble tithing these days, “he confessed. “ What seems to be the hang-up? His pastor asked.

“Well, back when I made $50/week, I tithed $5, which was easy. And when I made $500/week, I tithed $50… sometimes. But now that I make $5,000/week, I’m having a hard time. A $500 tithe is a lot of money! Will you pray for me pastor?” “Sure.” said the pastor, “Let’s pray. Father, please reduce Joe’s income back down to $50/week so that he can honor you with the tithe.”

Well, I guess that’s one way to do it. …not my first choice, and probably not yours either. The question is, “Why is it that giving gifts at Christmas or a birthday is easy… in fact it is fun… but giving our resources to God seems so hard?”

Now, I know that some of you get really uncomfortable when a preacher starts talking about money. It really doesn’t bother me because I respect your privacy and I am not trying to get in your business. At least not your financial business.

As your pastor, however, it is my job to help with your spiritual business, and this week’s spiritual practice from BELIEVE chapter 19 is GIVING OUR RESOURCES TO GOD. We have talked about offering our spiritual gifts to God. We have talked about offering out time to God. This week it is time to take a hard look at the relationship between our stuff and our discipleship.

 Jesus spent a good deal of time talking about the relationship between our faith, and our stuff, like material possessions and money.

•           Of the 38 parables of Jesus in the Bible, 16 of them deal with money and possessions. That’s 48%.

•           288 verses in the four Gospels refer to money. That’s 10%.

•           In fact, Jesus talked more about money and possessions than hell.

•           He talked more about money and possessions than heaven.

•           He talked more about money and possessions than forgiveness.

Why? Not because money is so important to God, but because money and possessions are so important to people. Jesus knew that, for most of us, the biggest barrier to living fully as his disciples would be our love of money, our love of material stuff, and our love of creature comforts. Fundamentally, Jesus knew that what we do with our stuff is an important spiritual issue. Generosity is an important spiritual practice.

 Did you hear what I heard in today’s scripture. Listen again. “And they received from Moses all the freewill offerings that the Israelites had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the artisans who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task being performed, and said to Moses, “The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” The people were restrained from bringing ay offering; for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.”

What a problem to have! Moses had to tell the people no more! No more! Please don’t bring any more offerings! We can’t use any more! To be honest, I have never seen that happen in a local church.

So why… why did they have such a bountiful offering? Let’s see if we can figure out.

 The passage begins “The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me”

Let’s be perfectly clear. God didn’t need their gold, or yarn, or wood, or any of that other stuff. God doesn’t need our money either! The God who created everything, is not limited by the money or other resource we do or do not give back to Him. God doesn’t need our money or our resources, which begs the question, "Why give to God? “ To answer that question, let me pose another.

•           If you have to chose between your money and your God, which would you chose?

Ouch!

Matthew says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Or we can turn that around to say wherever you heart is, that is where you will want to put your treasure.

We say that our hearts belong to God. Giving God our resources is a way of putting our money where our mouth is (so to speak).

We say that we believe that everything we have is a gift from God. Giving God our resources is a way of putting our money where our mouth is.

Worship is an act of confessing and praising that, which is most important in our lives. Giving generously to God is fundamentally an act of worship because it speaks loud and clear what is most important to us.

  In the book, The Day America Told the Truth,  there are some shocking statistics on what Americans believe is most important. They asked people, “What would you be willing to do for $10 million?”

(25%) Would abandon their entire family

 (23%) Would become prostitutes for a week or more

(16%) Would give up their American citizenship

(16%) Would leave their spouses

(10%) Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free

(7%) Would kill a stranger

(3%) Would put their children up for adoption

Really? What does this say about what where our hearts are as a culture? What does that say about what our culture worships?

 And what does your giving to God say about your priorities? There is nothing wrong with having a well-funded retirement account, or having a dream car, or having that really big house, or the perfect vacation, as long as those things are not your number one priority. Remember, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

We need to take a good hard look at how we use our resources. Where are our priorities? Where is our heart?

 The first reason the Israelites had such a bountiful offering in that they knew that giving their resources to God was an act of worship.

 The passage from Exodus goes on to say, “The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. 

In the story, Moses put no pressure on the Israelites.

•           There was no requirement.

•           There were no suggested amounts.

•           There was no guilt.

•           There was no shame.

•           No one got a bill.

They gave because their hearts prompted them to give. God wanted people to give out of joy and thanksgiving. And they did.

Giving our resources to God should come from joy and bring us joy!

In Acts they talk about the early church giving with “Glad and generous hearts.” 

God’s desire is that the people give because their “hearts prompt them to give.” God’s desire is that the people give because they want to not because they have to.

 There are too many grumpy givers in the church. People who give because they feel pressured, are often grumpy givers. People who give because they have to, are often grumpy givers. People, who give out of guilt, are often grumpy givers. People who think the offering is a necessary evil or an interruption in the worship service, are often grumpy givers. But God doesn’t want us to be grumpy givers. He wants to give not because we have to, but out of joy and thanksgiving.

 In 2 Corinthians Paul writes, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

The book of Acts says, “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving” 

The other side of giving joyfully, of course, is that giving joyfully releases happy endorphins in our brains and makes us even more joyful. Generosity breeds generosity.

Is there anything better than seeing the kids’ face when they open a gift they didn’t expect to receive? Is there anything better than seeing the beaming glow on your spouse’s face when he or she opens that special gift? Giving generously to God brings that same joy.

The second reason the Israelites had such a bountiful offering is that they gave joyfully, and giving made them even more joyful.

  Finally, the Israelites were having so much fun giving, that they had to “restrain” people from giving. Have you ever seen that happen? I haven’t either. Why not?

First, I think it has to do with giving as an act of worship and giving joyfully, but beyond that, I think the church often focuses on giving to the wrong things.

The Israelites were not asked to meet budget, but to join in God’s extravagant vision for a beautiful tabernacle that would reflect the glory of God.

I know as well as anyone that the church has to do things like pay the insurance, clear the snow, and buy candles. Those are necessary budget items. When I give, I know those things have to be done, but that is not why I give. Like the Israelites, I want to give to be part of God’s extravagant vision.

•           I give because Jesus said let the little children come unto me and I want to be part of God’s extravagant vision of sharing the love of Jesus with all the children in Reinbeck.

•           I give because we live in a world that says there will never be “enough,” but I want to be part of God’s extravagant vision of loving our neighbors by feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and housing the homeless in our community.

•           Our world is a big place but I give to be part of God’s extravagant vision of being in ministry in disaster areas no matter how far away they might be.

•           I give to be part of God’s extravagant vision of building churches in places I will never visit.

•           I give to be part of God’s extravagant vision of training young people to be the leaders of tomorrow’s church even though I will probably never meet them.

•           I give to be part of God’s extravagant vision of proclaiming good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and setting free those who are oppressed.

•           I give to be part of God’s extravagant vision of the new heaven and the new earth where there will be no more tears, nor more death, no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain.

As disciples of Jesus chartist we need to move past a survival mentality… we have to move past the “meeting budget” mentality… we have to move past the taking care of number one mentality… and invite people to come along side us as we work side by side on God’s extravagant vision for his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

I don’t know if we will ever have to tell people to stop giving, but I know we will never find out, if we don’t invite people to see God’s extravagant vision and be part of it.

 So...

Disciples of Jesus Christ practice generosity to worship and give glory to God.

Disciples of Jesus Christ practice generosity out of thanksgiving and joy.

Disciples of Jesus Christ practice generosity to be part of the great vision of our great God.

Why do you give?