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When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, "Does this hurt? How about this?" If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the doctor will say, "We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!" So when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger, either the pastor has pushed too hard, or perhaps there's something wrong. In that case, we need to realize that we're in need of the Great Physician because it's not supposed to hurt there. If this message causes some hurt, some pain, then we need to pay attention to the discomfort because as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, it’s not supposed to hurt there. The decisions we make about the money God allows us to have should make us feel good when we hear about Christian stewardship, not bad. If the feeling is guilt or anger, then we need more tests to find the source of the discomfort. In the first century Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth about their need to give money to the church in Jerusalem. It was clear that to be a Christian in those early days meant being connected with other churches. If one part of the body of Christ rejoiced they all rejoiced. If one was hurting they all hurt. You could say that an informal system of apportionments existed then as it does in the United Methodist Church today. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul writes about the poor churches in Macedonia who gave beyond their means. Even though they suffered "a severe ordeal of affliction," these churches gave generously to the mother church. But it was never about money, but about faith. Their first priority was their relationship with God. This leads me to the most important principle in Christian stewardship. God comes first. There will come a day when every single one of us in this room will be separated from our wealth. We know it to be true, even though we live at times as if it will not. Death will separate you and me from our bank accounts and our possessions. So will fire or theft. Lloyd Douglas tells the story of Thomas Hearne, who, "in his journey to the mouth of the Coppermine River, wrote that a few days after they had started on their expedition, someone stole most of their supplies. His comment on the apparent misfortune was: 'The weight of our baggage being so much lightened, our next day's journey was more swift and pleasant.' The loss of a few sides of bacon and a couple of bags of flour meant nothing more than an easing of the load. Are you traveling through life with a light or heavy load? Does your wealth cause you worry or joy? Do you lay awake at night wondering how you are going to pay all your bills? While visiting my parents in South Carolina a few weeks ago my mother told me about a newspaper article called "The 80 % Solution." Written by Mary Hunt in her weekly column, "The Cheapskate," this article offers a solution to our constant desire to spend. She calls it 10-10-80. The first 10% is money you give away out of gratitude for all you have. The second 10% you save for yourself, long term. And then you live on the remaining 80%. Mary writes, "I know that adopting the 10-10-80 plan may not be possible right off the bat. After all if you’re living on more like 125 percent of your income, you can’t reverse that overnight. Perhaps you can start with 5-5-90. Or 3-3-94. Whatever it is, the important thing is that you get started. Make a commitment right now that next payday you will give away the first part of your check, no matter how small." Most of us have recently completed our taxes so we have a copy of our 1040 filed at home. Wouldn’t it be interesting to look at that form and divide our total charitable giving by our total net income? Would you venture a guess as to the percentage of your total income you give away? According to scripture and Mary Hunt, the goal is 10%. But perhaps your percentage is 2%. Don’t try to make the jump to 10% unless you feel fully called to make this step. Instead, try to increase it by 2% a year. In a few years you will be at the 10% level and you probably won’t notice the difference. But you will notice a big difference in your spiritual life and your joy. This leads me to the second stewardship principle. Giving 10% to charities and the church is about our need to give. Yes, the church needs you to step up your giving to pay our bills. Yes, most of us need to give more than ten or $20 a week. But the major reason to give away 10% of our income is about our need to give. It is about our relationship with God. It is about making a basic first step in being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. There’s a story of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he'd promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, saying it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don't see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you'd have no problem tithing $4.00." We all need to examine our personal stewardship practices. Perhaps we have never taken the time to calculate our God-gifts in relation to our total income. It may be that we need to update our giving practices just like we need to update our wills. But this process is not the same as doing our taxes or family budget. The third principle of stewardship involves prayer. Looking at our God-gifts should be done as a part of our conversations with God. The question of how much we should give away is one that needs our Lord’s input. For it is not a purely financial decision, but also a spiritual one. Paul writes to the Corinthians these words, "It is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something…now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means." Notice the word "eagerness." It also can be translated as "readiness", "passionate," or "joyfully ready." The question begs asking, "Of all the things we do in life…what are those things we do because we are passionate about them?" Are we giving to God because we are eager to do so? Or do we look at that regular check to the church as a chore, with the same attitude we have when we pay our bills? Paul writes, "For if the eagerness (or the passion) is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has…not according to what one does not have." Are you passionate about your giving? Are you joyfully ready to give according to your God-given income levels? Is it possible for your family to attempt to live on 80% of your income? Mary Hunt writes, "Living below your means is the best way to live. Living on 80 percent of your income keeps you miles away from The Edge—that horrible place where you can’t relax and you can’t sleep at night." I don’t know if you have ever come close to The Edge. Perhaps you are there right now. It makes no sense to increase our God-gifts when we can barely pay our bills. But if we lighten our load, if we reduce our consumption and our debt, then we will have more to give.
Garrison Keillor writes about Larry, a resident of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon. Larry was saved 12 times at the Lutheran Church, an all-time record for a church that never gave altar calls. Regardless of that, between 1953 and 1961, Larry came forward 12 times, weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the shock of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon on stewardship. But now he needed to put his arm around this person, pray with him and be certain he had a way to get home. Even we fundamentalists got tired of him, Keillor writes. God didn't mean for you to feel guilty all your life. There comes a time when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and grapple with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof. But Larry just kept repenting and repenting. Repentance is a good thing. It means we are weary of facing one direction. We want to turn and face a new direction. But then we need to move forward in that new direction. We need to step out in faith. God wants us to feel good about the gifts we have, and the giving we do. The promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can live under our means. We can move towards the goal of tithing. And we can experience the deep and abiding joy that comes with putting God first in our lives. |
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05.09.04 - 10-10-80 (2 Corinthians 8:1-7)
