"The Deepening of Faith" - delivered February 28, 2010
Although obedience is a virtue and is expected of Christian believers, sometimes it can be hard to practice. This is the story of three men who married wives from different states.
The first man married a woman from Michigan. He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.
The second man married a woman from Missouri. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.
The third man married a girl from Pennsylvania. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry done, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.
As we prepare ourselves spiritually to celebrate Easter, our Sunday morning worship services are focusing on themes of renewing our faith. Last week’s message dealt with new beginnings in faith. This period of time before Easter is a special time when believers are encouraged to make new beginnings in our faith walk with God.
Perhaps someone here today will make a new beginning in a faith walk with God by putting their faith and trust in Jesus for the first time. Those of us who already believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior are invited to make repeated new beginnings in faith with God every time we repent of our sin. Repentance simply means to turn away from our sinful lifestyles and turn to a godly lifestyle instead. God desires that we make such new beginnings in our faith walk with God after every time we spiritually stumble, fall, or turn away from God.
But once we make a new beginning in faith, what then? Then God desires and expects that we will deepen and strengthen our faith walk with God. At any time, but especially during this season of Lent, believers are encouraged to consider ways in which they might reach in to grow spiritually and so deepen their faith.
After we repent our faith is strengthened and deepened each time we make a conscious and determined effort, with God’s help, to move farther away from our sinful lifestyle and to move closer to God. Such actions increase the level of our faith. One gauge for measuring how deep our faith is becoming is the extent of our obedience to God and our trust in God. Another way to look at it would be that the more trusting and obedient we are to God, the deeper our faith becomes. To help us understand this concept better, today we’re going to look at the faith response of one of the greatest men of God in the Bible – Abraham.
God is easily pleased. Now that statement is a far cry from what was said last week. Last week the story of Noah and the Great Flood revealed that God was not pleased at all. In fact, God was so displeased with humankind’s sinfulness that God chose to wipe out all flesh and make a new beginning in faith through the family of one righteous man, Noah.
But really, God is easily pleased. The story of Abraham shows that what so easily pleases God is faith that believes God’s Word to be true. What so easily pleases God is faith that is so trusting that it evokes loyal obedience. What so easily pleases God is faith like that demonstrated by this man named Abraham.
Abraham was a very obedient man. But the Bible records that because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. I guess we could ask, which came first Abraham’s faith or his obedience? It’s a fair question, one that the Apostle Paul would try to answer two thousands years later in a letter he wrote to the Christian Church in Rome.
"Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
"So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." Roman 4:13-24 New Living Translation
Although Abraham was a very obedient man, it wasn’t his obedience that made him righteous in God’s eyes. It was his faith, for Abraham’s faith was deep enough to enable him to trust God completely and to obey God loyally.
The Bible records several instances in the life of Abraham where his obedience demonstrated his faith in God. When Abraham, then known as Abram, was 75 years old, God instructed him to leave his homeland and move to a place he knew nothing about, where God said he would make him the father of many nations. Although he was old and childless at the time, Abraham believed God when God promised that Abraham would inherit the new land and fill it with descendants. Abraham demonstrated his faith and trust in God by loyally obeying, even though the promise seemed impossible to fulfill.
Twenty-five to thirty years passed. During that time Abraham had fathered a son, Ishmael, by one of his servants and then a second son, Isaac, by his own wife. Equally devoted to both sons, that proud papa was instructed by God to send Ishmael away, effectively putting his first born son out of his life. Abraham again demonstrated his trusting faith in God, who had promised to watch over, protect and bless his first-born child, by loyally obeying, even though he had nothing but God’s word to back up the promise.
Then, some time afterwards, that loving father was instructed by God to offer Isaac, his only remaining heir, the child of God’s promise, on an altar of sacrifice. Once more Abraham demonstrated his trusting faith in the goodness and greatness of God by loyally obeying, even though it seemed to go against everything God had done and promised him so far.
You know, we think that we first need to have a super-strong faith like Abraham’s in order to be as faithful and loyal in our obedience to God. But in that passage from Romans 4 we heard these words. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.
What made Abraham’s faith stronger and deeper? I’m convinced it was his obedience. Each time he trusted and obeyed God, the stronger his faith became. So, the more we loyally and trustingly obey God, the deeper our faith will grow, too. And, like Abraham, the deeper our faith grows, the easier and more automatically we will find it to be loyally obedient.
Notice, though, that the Bible describes Abraham as the father of all who believe, not obey. Obedience is important, but without faith it is not enough. Without faith, the motivation to obey is to be saved by our works or to stay out of trouble. With faith, the motivations to obey God are love of God and trust in God.
Beyond obedience, what pleased God about Abraham was that he made it a priority to develop a right relationship with God that comes by faith. God was pleased with Abraham’s faith because even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping. God was pleased with his trust because Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.
Folks, God desires to be just as pleased with us and with our faith and trust. And, with God’s help, we can please God by intentionally striving to deepen our faith constantly. One easy way to do that is to reach up to God regularly in worship. Making worship the priority of each week, rather than sandwiching it in between recreational or other activities, keeps us connected and firmly rooted in our faith walk with God.
In addition, Abraham’s trusting faith and loyal obedience are examples to us of the importance of us reaching in within ourselves to connect with the presence of God in our lives. In so doing we will also grow spiritually in obedience and in trust. Whenever Abraham was faced with a difficult choice or a test of his faith, he reached in within himself and was reminded of the presence of his loving God with him. Thus, even when there was no reason for hope, he could keep hoping. That is the kind of faith that enables us to remain obedient when we see no point in what we’re doing. That is the kind of trust that enables us to remain obedient when we see no fruit from our labors of obedience. That is the kind of spiritual growth that enables us to remain obedient when others mock us or don’t understand why we believers do what we do.
What’s more, Abraham’s faith did not weaken in spite of the overwhelming physical evidence against what God had said would come to be. Become the father of many nations when he was childless? Have a son with his wife Sarah when they were 100 and 90 years old? Kill Isaac, the child through whom the promise would be fulfilled? Instead of wavering in his faith, through his continued obedience, Abraham’s faith grew stronger. Whenever difficult situations arose in his life, Abraham did not turn away from God. Whenever it seemed that God was distant or had even turned away from him, Abraham chose to remain close to God through his trust and faith in God’s character. When faced with impossible choices, Abraham chose to believe that God would provide and see him through.
How is it with us today? Deep down inside, do we yearn to have an obedient and trusting faith like Abraham? We can, by making a conscious and intentional choice to deepen our faith walk with God. Through trust and obedience, our faith will deepen so that we will trust God enough to deny ourselves and follow the ways of Jesus. As our faith deepens, we will discover the courage to step out in faith like Abraham did. As our faith deepens, we will be inspired to humble ourselves as Jesus did when he allowed himself to be beaten, mocked and crucified by creatures he helped to create. As our faith deepens, we will find the willingness to take up our cross, as Abraham did, to trust in a promise that humanly seems impossible to keep. As our faith deepens, we will be loyally obedient to God’s will even though we may suffer for it, as did Jesus.
How is it with us today? Do we wonder if God is pleased with us? Remember, God is easily pleased and desires to be pleased with us. Abraham’s life was forever changed because he believed that God was able to do what only God could do – cause two old people to have a baby. Our lives will be forever changed when, with a deepened faith, we practice believing that God will do what only God can do in our lives – heal a disease, reconcile a broken relationship, forgive us and redeem us from all our faults, and love us for who we are.
When bad times hit, when things get tough, when all looks lost, then it is that God reveals God’s love for us even more. In those times, when a deepened faith enables us to trust and refuse to give up on God, in turn God will show us just how much God loves us and hasn’t given up on us.
"New Beginnings in Faith" - delivered February 21, 2010
The forty days and six Sundays before Easter is the period of time known in the Church as Lent. Following the pattern of significant biblical events being associated with the number forty, it became the custom of the church to observe a forty-day period of spiritual preparation for the celebration of Easter.
This time was used to prepare new converts to Christianity for their baptism on Easter Sunday. In those days, when church people committed serious sins, they either separated themselves or were separated from the community of faith. The forty day period of Lent was also a time when these persons could be reconciled to the church by penitence on their part and forgiveness on the part of the church. In this way, the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.
And so, this Lent our Sunday worship services are going to focus on themes of renewing our faith. In a very real sense, Lent was a time for the entire church family to make a new beginning in faith. Those who had been alienated from the church made a new beginning by repenting and turning away from their sin and returning to God and to the Church. Those who had remained in full participation in the life of the church made a new beginning by offering real forgiveness and truly being reconciled to their alienated sisters and brothers. Everyone made a new beginning by renewing their faith and commitment to God.
Today we’ll look at three Bible passages that hopefully will inspire each of us to make a new beginning in our faith walk with God as well. Following the worldwide destruction of life from the Great Flood, the first passage recounts God’s words of new beginnings in faith to Noah and all the creatures of the earth.
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons who were with him. He said, "I am now making my covenant with you and with all of your children who will be born after you. I am making it also with every living thing that was with you in the ark. I am making my covenant with the birds, the livestock and all of the wild animals. I am making it with all of the creatures that came out of the ark with you. I am making it with every living thing on earth.
"Here is my covenant that I am making with you. The waters of a flood will never destroy all life again. A flood will never destroy the earth again."
God continued, "My covenant is between me and you and every living thing with you. It is a covenant for all time to come. Here is the sign of the covenant I am making. I have put my rainbow in the clouds. It will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Sometimes when I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in them. Then I will remember my covenant between me and you and every kind of living thing. The waters will never become a flood to destroy all life again.
"When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. I will remember that my covenant will last forever. It is a covenant between me and every kind of living thing on earth."
So God said to Noah, "The rainbow is the sign of my covenant. I have made my covenant between me and all life on earth." Genesis 9:8-17 New International Readers’ Version
God had gotten fed up with the actions and attitudes of humankind. So sinful were they, that God elected to make a new beginning by destroying humankind and every living creature, except Noah and his family. After the deed was done, God elected to make a new beginning with Noah and all his descendants, including us, through a covenant, the covenant of the rainbow.
Our Disciple Bible Study Class just studied this passage this past week. One of the things we learned is that when a covenant is made between God and people, God dictates the terms. When God makes a covenant with us there is no input from us and no negotiating the terms on our part. This passage from Genesis makes those truths plain, when it says:
God said, "I am now making my covenant with you and with all of your children who will be born after you.
"Here is my covenant that I am making with you.
God continued, "My covenant is between me and you and every living thing with you. It is a covenant for all time to come.”
On the surface that sounds like a bad business practice. How do we know that our best interests are being served? After all, God says this is the way it’s going to be – take it or leave it. And sadly, most people would walk away from a good thing because they had no say in how the agreement was crafted.
But when it comes to God, God doesn’t offer harsh terms. God doesn’t offer unfair terms; God doesn’t offer terms that contain anything hidden, sneaky or underhanded. God only offers good. When God makes a covenant with us, it is always to serve our best interests, even when we don’t always know what those best interests are.
In this case, God offered that never again would the waters of a flood destroy all life on the earth. That’s good in and of itself. But beyond that promise, God was also offering to take away our fear, our uncertainty that God might do that again. Why would Noah or anyone else want to make a new beginning in faith with a God who could, at any moment, decide to wipe us all out again? God knew that our interests in making a new beginning in faith with God would be best served by alleviating that fear. I will never do that again, God promised.
This same assurance from God carries over to us and our sinfulness today. The consequences of the sin of the people in Noah’s day led to their destruction by the waters of a flood. The consequences of our sin will lead to our destruction as well, not by a flood, but by God’s righteous, eternal judgment.
However, because God promised not to destroy all life by a flood ever again, we now can trust God, and not be afraid of God. And so, when God promises to forgive our sin and spare us from eternal destruction through faith in Jesus Christ, we can believe God in hope and with confidence. We don’t have to fear and wonder if what the Bible says about eternal life is true. It is. Every word of it. And so, God’s covenant of the rainbow with Noah and us, his descendants, enables us to make new beginnings in faith with God without fear.
One of the ways the Church acknowledges and represents a new beginning in faith with God is through baptism. I Peter 3:18-22 likens what the waters of the Great Flood did spiritually to the waters of baptism.
Christ died once for our sins. An innocent person died for those who are guilty. Christ did this to bring you to God, when his body was put to death and his spirit was made alive.
Christ then preached to the spirits that were being kept in prison. They had disobeyed God while Noah was building the boat, but God had been patient with them. Eight people went into that boat and were brought safely through the flood.
Those flood waters were like baptism that now saves you. But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death. Christ is now in heaven, where he sits at the right side of God. All angels, authorities, and powers are under his control. I Peter 3:18-22 Contemporary English Version
The waters of the Great Flood cleansed the world of sinful people. The waters of baptism are a symbol of the cleansing of sin from our lives. The rainbow was a sign of God’s covenant and commitment to offer a new beginning of our faith by restoring our relationship with God. The Great Flood allowed for a new birth of faith and righteousness through godly Noah and his family. Baptism acknowledges the exchange of an old sinful life for a new beginning in faith and righteousness through Jesus Christ.
And so, every baptism can be like a rainbow: a sign to remind us of God’s desire to be in relationship with sinful humanity rather than just destroy sinful humanity. Afterwards, the lives of every person who is baptized should then be like the rainbow: our lives should be a sign to the world of God’s faithfulness. Just as the rainbow reminds everyone of God’s promise not to destroy the world by a flood ever again, our lives as baptized believers should remind everyone of God’s promise not to destroy eternally those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus.
Notice I said that our lives should reflect that hope and promise. It’s not necessarily our words – what we say and teach and preach about God that will reflect that truth. Every aspect of our lives should be so different from the rest of the world that people can’t help but see and notice the difference. That’s why this verse from I Peter 3 is so important: But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death. So, it doesn’t matter whether we were baptized as infants or children and cannot remember our baptism, or whether we were baptized as a youth or an adult and fully understood the vows we took. Our baptism is a sign to us of God’s acceptance of us, of God’s desire for us to make new beginnings of faith in God after every time we sin and turn away from God. And so, baptism is a constant reminder to us of our need to repent of and confess our sin to God, because baptism is also a sign of God’s promise to forgive us of our sin so that we can turn to God and follow God with a clear conscience.
As a human being, Jesus chose to affirm baptism as a sign of God’s desire to be in relationship with sinful humanity rather than just destroy sinful humanity by being baptized himself. Hear again the story of Jesus’ baptism as told by St. Mark.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee. John baptized him in the Jordan River. Jesus was coming up out of the water. Just then he saw heaven being torn open. He saw the Holy Spirit coming down on him like a dove. A voice spoke to him from heaven. It said, "You are my Son, and I love you. I am very pleased with you."
At once the Holy Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert. He was in the desert 40 days. There Satan tempted him. The wild animals didn't harm Jesus. Angels took care of him.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee. He preached God's good news. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Turn away from your sins and believe the good news!" Mark1:9-15 New International Readers’ Version
Jesus was baptized, not because ne needed it, but in order to identify with all the rest of us that do need it. Because Jesus never sinned, ne could not identify with sinful humanity. Instead, by being baptized Jesus was identifying with a repentant people, not a sinful people. Jesus was identifying with people who desire and are willing to make new beginnings in faith with God through faith in Jesus.
There are a couple of churchy words that are used to describe what people do when they want to make a new beginning in faith. One is penitence. Penitence can be described as being sorrowful for the sins in one’s life and so attempting to clear one’s heart and life of the sin that is there. People perform acts of penitence to try to atone or make up for the wrongs they done.
Penitence is good and helpful as far as it goes. It helps to restore broken relationships and reconcile people. Unfortunately, penitence by itself does not cleanse us of the sin that is in our lives. Most of us commit the same sins over and over again. A continual involvement in sinful behavior shows that full and complete penitence – the clearing of sin from one’s life – has not taken place. What is needed, then, is repentance.
Repentance is an actual new beginning in faith. Repentance is turning away from a sinful lifestyle and a turning to a godly lifestyle. True repentance makes a permanent change in a person’s relationship with God. Repentance is often the beginning of a total personal transformation of a person, physically, spiritually and in every other way.
All the Gospel writers agree: Jesus was baptized before he was tempted by Satan. This makes it clear that Jesus did not come to be baptized for the forgiveness of any sin. Jesus had nothing to repent of.
But we do. We are born in sin and so we are tainted by sin for the rest of our lives. We constantly battle and struggle against sin, only to lose the skirmishes and get knocked down, over and over and over again.
But Jesus came and lowered himself to our level so that we might be raised to his heavenly level for all eternity. Jesus, through his life as a human being and through the act of baptism, became one with us here so that we might be one with him over there in glory.
I invite you to make a new beginning in faith today. Truly repent and turn away from whatever is sinful in your life, and turn to God, without fear, but in confidence that God loves you, asking God to help you be the kind of person God created you and wants you to be – a child of God who turns to God with a clear conscience.
Because We're Faithful and Wise" - delivered February 14, 2010
The last two Sundays in January we explored three biblical truths of stewardship. The first is the Truth of Rightful
Ownership, which says that nothing truly belongs to us; everything actually belongs to God. Although we see ourselves as owners, God has created us to be caretakers or stewards of what God owns. The Bible clearly teaches, “The earth and everything on it belong to the LORD. The world and its people belong to him.” Psalm 24:1 Contemporary English Version
The second truth can be called the Truth of Purposeful Blessing. This truth reasons that God blesses us greatly and entrusts much to our care as God’s stewards, so that we may bless others generously. God has given us more than we need so that we can give to those who do not have what they need. This is taught in II Corinthians 9:11-12 . “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” New International Version
The third biblical truth of stewardship is the Truth of Purposeful Possession. This truth says that wise stewards understand that what they have has been entrusted to their care for a purpose. God has granted us the privilege of allowing us and even encouraging us to use and enjoy what God owns. As a result, faithful and effective Christian stewards do not hoard what they have. Rather, faithful and effective Christian stewards use what they have with the attitude of generosity which is born out of a sense of gratitude. The motivation for being generous and grateful are these words of Jesus himself, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke 12:15 New Living Translation
Today we’ll look at perhaps the most practical component of stewardship in today’s world, namely that giving is an investment in the work of God’s kingdom. Now we need to be clear - Stewardship is not synonymous with giving. Stewardship is a lifestyle, which makes it much more than just what we give back to God. Giving is just one part of stewardship, but it is a crucial and significant part of faithful stewardship.
Recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 is what is commonly called the Parable of Talents. It could also be called the Parable of Faithful and Unfaithful Stewards because it is the story of how three servants were judged on their stewardship of their master’s property. Listen in this parable for how Jesus taught what is expected of every believer as God’s steward and how every believer will be held accountable for how we use what belongs to God but is entrusted to our care.
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.
“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’
“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
“The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’
“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" Matthew 25:14-30 New Living Translation
The Parable of the Talents links our stewardship of God’s gifts and blessings to Kingdom work. What we do or don’t do with the things of creation around us has an impact directly on us. But this parable reveals that what we do or don’t do also bears directly on work for God’s Kingdom.
Jesus was careful to say specifically that the property the servants had to work with was entrusted to them. That clearly reveals that the property did not belong to the servants – it belonged to the master. But, the master trusted his servants with the responsibility to care for wisely and manage carefully the master’s resources and assets.
Most of the translations of this parable use the word talents or money. But some use the word property or the phrase all he owned. The sense is that what was entrusted to the servants was much more than just money. The master’s entire estate, all his holdings, was entrusted to his servants' care.
From the beginning God has entrusted all of God’s estate to our care – all of creation’s resources, all its goods, all its blessings, including our money. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to tend and take care of what God had created. They didn’t own anything in the Garden, but they could use it and enjoy its benefits. All they were asked to do was care for it. And yet, without it being recorded in the Bible, there was an understanding that God’s people are to reach up to God in worship by giving back to God something of what was given to them by God. That’s evident in the story of Cain and Abel, which hinges on offerings that the brothers were giving back to God. Without getting into the whole story, suffice it to say that one brother’s offering was acceptable to God while the other’s wasn’t. That should make us consider carefully what we choose to give back to God and the attitude we have as we give it.
The parable from Matthew teaches that we are all not expected to give the same back to God. In the story the property entrusted to each of the servants was not the same. It was entrusted to them based on their abilities to handle it. The master gave to each servant what he knew each servant could handle and manage. No servant was given more than what he could steward well.
Just so, God entrusts to us and to our care what we can handle. God knows what our abilities are to manage what God entrusts to our care. A footnote in the New Living Translation Bible puts it rather straightforwardly. No one received more or less than he could handle. If he failed in his assignment, his excuse could not be that he was overwhelmed. Failure would indicate only laziness or hatred toward the master. The bags of silver represent any kind of resource we are given. God gives us time, gifts and other resources according to our abilities, and he expects us to invest them wisely until he returns. We are to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have but how well we use what we have.
The first two servants in the parable are variously described as investing or putting to work what we entrusted to their care. We’re not told what they did or how they did it. There may have been some risk incurred, and I’m sure that hard work was also involved. But the key is that the servants used what was entrusted to their care for the benefit of their master.
As such, the first two servants are examples of faithful Christian stewards and disciples. Until our master returns, like those servants, we are to prepare diligently for Christ’s second coming by reaching in and growing spiritually so that we are equipped to invest the time and talents entrusted to us in Kingdom work. We may incur risk and it promises to be hard work, but it is what is expected of us by God.
On the other hand, the third servant did not use or put to work what was entrusted to him. Instead, he did nothing with it, choosing to hide or bury it instead. Rather than thinking of his master, this third servant thought only of himself. He was more concerned about his own safety and security rather than producing an increase for his master.
But then the day of reckoning came. The master returned and called in his servants to give an account of what they had done with what was entrusted to their care. The Scriptures teach that Christian believers will also have to give an accounting to our master some day. In the Bible’s description of the final judgment we read these words, “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.” Revelation 20:12 New Living Translation
Again, I found a footnote in the New Living Translation Bible to be helpful. At the judgment, the books will be opened. The Book of Life contains the names of those who have put their trust in Christ to save them. These books also contain the recorded deeds of everyone, good or evil. Everyone’s life will be reviewed and evaluated. No one is saved by deeds, but deeds are seen as clear evidence of a person’s actual relationship with God. Jesus will look at how we have handled gifts, opportunities, and responsibilities. God’s gracious gift of salvation does not free us from the requirement of faithful obedience and service. Each of us must serve Christ in the best way we know and live each day knowing the books will one day be opened.
Like the three servants, one day we will stand before our master and make an accounting of how we stewarded the resources entrusted to our care. What we want to hear are the words spoken to the first two servants – “well done, good and faithful servant!”
Those words are not given easily or automatically to those who call themselves Christians. They are reserved for those who demonstrate their faithful stewardship by reaching out to others through the gifts they give back to God or through the ways they invest some of what was entrusted to them in the work of the Kingdom.
In addition to being obedient, wise and faithful, another motivation for us to give back to God is gratitude for what and how much God has given to us. It is important also to recognize that the more that is entrusted to the steward, the more that should be given back to or used for God. What a steward gives back to God or uses for Kingdom work, then, is determined not so much by what the need is but by what God has given us to give. Stewards give more because they can, not so much because they have to do.
This biblical truth of stewardship can be called the Truth of Proportionate Participation. It is taught in I Corinthians 16:2 . There the Apostle Paul was instructing the Corinthians about the appropriate response they were to make to an appeal to raise money for less fortunate believers elsewhere. “On the first day of each week, let everyone of you put aside something and save it up as he has prospered, in proportion to what he has been given, so that no collections will need to be taken after I come.” The Amplified Bible
What he was saying was, give while you can, even if there is no immediate need or call for the gifts, so that resources will be there when the need is called for. Such wise and faithful stewardship, such generous and grateful giving will keep us on the day of reckoning, from being called wicked and lazy by our master. On that day we don’t want to be like the third servant who heard these awful words, But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. That poor servant had nothing to begin with, was given an opportunity to gain much, but ended up losing everything because he did nothing with the resources at his disposal to invest in the work of his master’s kingdom.
I want to challenge each one of us today to think about and wrestle with these questions:
“What am I investing in the work of God’s Kingdom?”
“How do I decide how much to invest?”
“How much of that decision is faith-based and how much of it is personal finance-based?”
“How will the accounting of my stewardship of God’s resources entrusted to me be received by my lord and master?”
To help us make the best responses to those questions, below is information that lists the four biblical truths of stewardship we've covered. In addition, since today is the day each year we think about and celebrate love, inluded are ways we can say "I Love You" to God through Chrristian Giving Practices.
Biblical Truths of Stewardship
· Truth of Rightful Ownership Psalm 24:1
Nothing truly belongs to us; everything actually belongs to God
· Truth of Purposeful Blessing II Corinthians 9:11-12
God blesses us greatly so that we may bless others generously
· Truth of Purposeful Possession Luke 12:15
Christian stewards are guided by lordship, not “hoardship”
· Truth of Proportionate Participation I Corinthians 16:2
Christian stewards give back to God or use for Kingdom work
based not so much on what the need is
but by what God has given them to give
Ways to Say “I Love You” to God
through Christian Giving Practices
Biblical Principles
Practical Applications
- Give to God first out of your paycheck
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Give every week, whether or not you are in worship
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Increase your giving every time your income increases
"Because We're Grateful" - delivered January 31, 2010
Continuing in our study of the proper understanding of Christian stewardship, today we’re going to look at the role of gratitude in stewardship. Last week we learned that the first indisputable biblical Truth of Stewardship is the Truth of Rightful Ownership. That truth says, “Nothing truly belongs to us; everything actually belongs to God.” I Chronicles 29:11 is one passage that teaches this truth. There is it written, “Everything in heaven and earth is yours, O Lord.”
Although we see ourselves as owners, God has created us to be caretakers or stewards of what God owns. That means, that as Christian stewards, we are supervisors, managers or administrators of the people and possessions of God. God expects us and trusts us with the responsibility to manage God’s creation wisely. One side of that responsibility is that all our actions should help tend and care for all that God has created. The other side of that responsibility is that we are to guard against any of our actions bringing harm to anything that God has made.
Human stewards in the time of Jesus were most often slaves. God treats Christian stewards differently. Even though there is great responsibility in being God’s steward, there is also a privilege and honor in being a steward of God’s things. The honor is that God chose us over anything else in creation to be the stewards of what God has made. The privilege is that God also allows us and even encourages us to use and enjoy what God owns. As a result, faithful and effective Christian stewardship is guided by the attitude of generosity which is born out of a sense of gratitude. That’s the message we’re going to try to unpack this morning.
We have been raised and conditioned to consider things to be the property of us or of other people. To hear the Bible say that we what think is ours is not really ours at all can leave us feeling as if everything has been taken from us. When we feel that we’ve lost everything, generosity and gratitude are not two of the emotions or attitudes we are apt to experience or display.
But when we realize that we haven’t really lost anything at all, our attitudes and emotions begin to change. Our outlook on life is different when we view it through the perspective that without God’s generosity toward us we would have nothing at all. The Truth of Rightful Ownership frees us from feeling victimized and enables us to become more generous and grateful, even when we may not have much by worldly standards.
The following words of Moses, spoken to the people of Israel as they prepared to assume control of the Promised Land, are crucial to giving us today the proper perspective about what we claim as our own.
“When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors.
“He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.
“But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroy-ed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 8:10-20 New Living Translation
These words warned the ancient Israelites not to take for granted nor to forget God’s role in providing them what they would later “own” and enjoy in the Promised Land. It’s a warning our ears need to hear and remember today, as well. When we eat our fill and enjoy the good things of life, we should always pause to praise God, remembering the good land God has given us. That land is our country to be sure, but it is also all the benefits, opportunities and pleasures that we have simply by living in the United States, things we take for granted and don’t even think about, much less remember before God regularly in thanksgiving.
The proper attitude of a Christian steward should mirror that of a person born into a Third World country who was suddenly able to enjoy all that we have here in the USA. Imagine, for instance, being able to live in a single family dwelling with a yard instead of a small hut shared with three other families in the middle of a dusty village. How careful we would be in our use and maintenance and upkeep of this wonderful possession. How less likely we would be to squander or waste any of the wonderful things entrusted to our care. Daily remembering what we didn’t have before would cause us to be more profoundly and regularly grateful. That’s the kind of perspective that enables our Christian stewardship to be practiced with the attitude of generosity which is born out of a sense of gratitude.
So, another truth of stewardship is that stewardship is a matter of attitude as well as action. In human circles, actions may speak louder than words. But to God’s ears, attitudes speak just as loud if not louder than actions. Faithful and effective Christian stewards develop the proper attitudes that then produce proper actions. Jesus often taught that God is just as concerned about our attitudes as our actions.
For example, Jesus said, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” Matthew 5:21-22 New Living Translation
So it is with Christian stewardship. God is more pleased with a believer’s action when it is done with the proper attitude. For instance, God is more pleased with the actions of a faithful steward when those actions are performed willingly and joyfully rather than reluctantly or out of compulsion. Wise stewards joyfully choose to support God’s work and do God’s will, as II Corinthians 8:11 reveals: “So now finish the work you started. Then your ‘doing’ will be equal to your ‘wanting to do.’” New Century Version
Notice that the action, the doing, is elevated in acceptance to God by the attitude, the wanting to do, behind it. Passages like this are encouragements to all of us. They reveal that we don’t necessarily have to be able to do a lot in order for God to be pleased with us. God wants us to do as much as we can for God and the Kingdom. But if there is only a little we can do, and we do it with the right attitudes, God is just as pleased.
God judges our stewardship as much, if not more, based upon our inner attitude. II Corinthians 9:7 New Revised Standard Version says: “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Pay attention to the words “not reluctantly or under compulsion.” Since God loves givers who give with the right attitude, and since giving is one part of stewardship, then we can say that God loves Christian stewards who discharge all their duties with the right attitude as well.
Which brings us to our central point for today: faithful and effective Christian stewardship is guided by the attitude of generosity which is born out of a sense of gratitude.
Some call this biblical teaching the Truth of Purposeful Blessing. It reasons that God blesses us greatly, or God entrusts much to our care as stewards, so that we may bless others generously. This is taught in II Corinthians 9:11-12 New International Version. “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”
Remember that everything we have has been given to us by God. It follows, then, that all that God has entrusted to us may not be just for us. We may actually have been given more than we need so that we can give to those who don’t have what they need. We can willingly and joyfully be generous toward others because we are grateful for God’s generosity toward us.
Nowhere is this more evident that in the financial resources God entrusts to our care. In our minds we can never get or have enough. But in God’s eyes, God has provided more than what we need so that we can use the excess to bring God’s blessings to others. How many have given to Haiti but still have enough for their own needs?
Consider money as one of the things God has entrusted to our care. The allure of money is strong and pervasive. It permeates our frantic, workaholic culture; but it brings no lasting fulfillment. It always creates a thirst for more, unless one has the right attitude toward it and determines to manage it rather than be manipulated by it.
Our attitude toward money won’t change until we begin to think of money as a means to an end, not the end itself. In the final analysis, the hallmark of faithful Christian stewardship is administration not acquisition. Only by pursuing the goal of pleasing God by how we handle the financial and other resources entrusted to us will we find lasting pleasure and deep satisfaction in our lives.
And so, the last biblical truth of stewardship that I’m going to touch on today is the Truth of Purposeful Possession. This truth says that wise stewards are guided by lordship, not “hoardship.” Hoardship does not birth generosity or gratitude.
The old man had lived in the run-down house for longer than anyone could remember. It was rumored that he had claimed squatter’s rights years ago, and the legal owners had never contested his claim. From time to time, he shuffled about the neighborhood, pushing a wobbly grocery cart as he searched for discarded treasures. Regardless of the season, he was always dressed in the same tattered clothes. When weeks had passed without a sign of him, someone called the police to report his absence. Upon investigating, the officers discovered his cold, lifeless body. According to the coroner, he had died of starvation.
After the old man’s death, nearby residents petitioned the city to demolish the unsightly house where he had lived for so long. The official records were searched and it was discovered that he was not a squatter after all. He had purchased the house and owned it free and clear. But no heirs could be identified or located, so the demolition order was given. When workers began to dismantle the house, they were startled to find the oddest “insulation” stuffed into the walls, under the floors and crammed into nooks and crevices throughout the structure: authentic stock certificates and other securities worth millions of dollars! The recluse who had lived in abject poverty for years actually had great riches. And, though he could afford the finest food, he ended up starving to death.
The old man was rich in possessions, yet utterly poor because he did not use what was in his hands. He was wealthy, but he gained no advantage from his wealth. Strangely, but deliberately, he hoarded the things that could have made his life totally different. As a steward he failed miserably, neglecting the phenomenal resources at his disposal. His pitiful life reminds us of a poignant lesson: worth is gained in what we use, not in what we hold.
Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:13-21 New Living Translation
Sound like the old man of today in the first story? Notice that this parable was told to answer a question about dividing up an inheritance. Instead of seeing their inheritance as a gift and blessing from God entrusted to their care, the heirs expressed greed in trying to make sure they each got their fair share. How opposite an attitude that is from the generosity and gratitude that God expects from each Christian.
Jesus warned, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Those are convicting words, especially in a society like ours which is so obsessed with striving to amass as much as possible. It can be truthfully said of Americans that never before in human history have so many people had so many things. Yet we often want even more, and we wear ourselves out to get whatever is next on our list. This kind of self-satisfying behavior is greed, the very thing that Jesus warned against.
The opposite of the proper attitudes of Christian stewardship, this attitude of ownership and behaviors of greed are what has gotten us into our current financial crisis. Remember the warning Moses gave to the people of Israel not to forget God when things went well for them? Well, they forgot. As a result, they suffered the predicted consequences – they were destroyed, first spiritually and then nationally.
Now, I believe that God is still at work in our world and in our lives. And so, that makes me wonder: Could our recent financial troubles be a similar judgment from God? Could God be taking away from us what was entrusted to us because we weren’t being good stewards of it? Because we have allowed our lack of gratitude and generosity to weaken us spiritually, is now God allowing us to suffer financially as a wake up call to become the kind of stewards God expects us to be?
Let’s not miss the meaning of the parable. Already rich, the farmer saw that he was getting even richer. Life had presented him with an extraordinary blessing: a crop so abundant that he didn’t have room to contain it. In the midst of this opportunity he asked an important question: What shall I do? But he arrived at the worst possible conclusion: I’ll keep it all to myself and I’ll live off of it for years. He saw the bounty as something to benefit himself exclusively. It was not to be shared, not to be used for any purpose other than his own pleasure. In exuberant self-indulgence, he thought he assured himself of a long, extravagant life filled with eating, drinking and making merry. But it was not to be.
The rich man was a fool, for he had fallen into the trap of prideful arrogance rather than generous gratitude. He thought that his riches were actually his riches, when in fact they were on loan to him from God. He thought that the amazing crop was something he deserved, failing to see that it resulted from factors completely in God’s control, not his own. He thought that the future was his to predict, willfully boasting of something known only to God. At every turn, he took God’s place and denied God’s authority. He was more concerned with “hoardship” than lordship.
With that poor example in mind, I encourage you to live out the Truth of Purposeful Possession by keeping these thoughts in mind:
One: Having a rich relationship with God comes through seeing everything as a gift from God’s hand. Whatever we receive in money or material goods or opportunities or in the moments of each day is purely and simply a gift from God. It’s an expression of God’s love, and evidence of God’s grace. Every possession is entrusted to us to enjoy, but also to steward and use for God’s purposes.
Two: Having a rich relationship with God comes through seeking God’s direction before settling on decisions. This is the essence of seeking first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, desiring above all else to do God’s will. The seeking happens continually as we commune with God and communicate with God throughout the day. And, whenever we receive “windfall” blessings, the first order of business is to ask, “Lord, what is your purpose in this? What do you want me to do?”
Lastly: Having a rich relationship with God comes through caring more about giving than getting. The rich man of the parable was consumed with greed and he cared nothing about giving. And lest we condemn him, let us remember that every person has the same capacity for the same sin. The challenge is to think inclusively about others instead of exclusively about ourselves, for in so doing we grow rich toward God and satisfied in God’s pleasure.
There they are. Several Crucial Truths about being the Christian steward God desires and expects us to be. The first question is, what are you going to do about them? And after you answer that question, the second question is, how will you explain your decision to God?
"Because It Belongs to God” - delivered January 24, 2010
Often there is a communication problem in the church. When talking of the things of God sometimes we use technical terms that have different or unique meanings in the church. Church leaders assume that everyone has the same understanding of those specialized, technical terms. For instance, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “stewardship”? Is it money? If so, that goes to show that we have misunderstood the real meaning of stewardship, have misused the word stewardship, or have limited our grasp of the full concept of stewardship.
Money is part of the concept of stewardship, but only a part. And so, since the proper understanding of Christian stewardship is intimately wrapped up in a believer’s identity, for the next three Sundays the sermons are going to deal with a proper understanding and application of Christian stewardship.
Why is this important? Because the Bible devotes a lot of attention to understanding stewardship from God’s perspective. Jesus spoke and taught often about being a faithful steward as part of what it means to be a Christian. I Peter 4:10 (New King James Version) states that one of God’s expectations for believers involves stewardship. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. This, then, is the job that God expects every one of God’s children to perform.
But what is stewardship? At its most basic, stewardship refers to the actions of a steward. Now, the dictionary lists six definitions of a steward. The last four all pertain to specific jobs or occupations, such as an airplane steward or shop steward.
But the first two definitions address the more general and overarching concept of what it means to be a steward. Definition one is – “a person in charge of the affairs of a large household, who supervises the kitchen and servants, manages accounts, etc.”
The second definition is “one who acts as an administrator, as of finances and property, for another.” By definition, any steward, Christian or not, is a supervisor, manager or administrator of the people, possessions and resources that belong to someone else.
More specifically, a Christian steward would be a supervisor, manager or administrator of the people, possessions and resources of God. This morning we’re going to unpack what it means to live as a Christian steward of God by looking at these truths, principles and guidelines:
Everything belongs to God.
Everything has been entrusted to our supervision...
On the one hand, to tend and care for it,
and on the other hand not to harm it.
Truth, principle and guideline #1
Although we claim to have personal possessions and even have laws and constitutional rights to protect our “private” property, the real truth is that everything belongs to God. In our eyes, we are owners. In God’s eyes, we are users and caretakers of what God owns.
Psalm 24:1 (Contemporary English Version) makes it plain: "The earth and everything on it belong to the LORD. The world and its people belong to him." Nothing ultimately belongs to us; it all is owned by God. We nod our heads in agreement with that teaching, but does our lifestyle reflect our understanding? For instance, a footnote from the New Living Translation Bible draws this conclusion from this verse: “Because the ‘earth’s is the Lord’s,’ all of us are stewards, or caretakers. We should be committed to the proper management of this world and its resources. We are not to become devoted to anything created or act as sole proprietors, however, because, (as I John 2:17 warns), this world will pass away.”
In case we don’t agree with Psalm 24:1, Psalm 89:11 (Contemporary English Version) gives us the reason for asserting that everything belongs to God. There it is written, "The heavens and the earth belong to you. And so does the world with all its people because you created them." The key phrase is, because you created them. God is the owner because God is the maker and creator of everything that exists. It is significant that the testimony and witness to who God is and what God’s purposes are, what we call the Bible, begins with this truth: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God is the owner of everything, including us. We, too, belong to God. As part of God’s creation, we are not independent from God. Instead, we are under God’s authority.
But does that mean that we are no better or no different from any of the rest of creation? Is our standing before God the same as the plants and the animals? Is our purpose here, our reason for being, no different than any other living creature? No. As Psalm 8 tells us, we have a unique purpose among all other created beings because everything else has been entrusted to our care.
"I often think of the heavens your hands have made, and of the moon and stars you put in place. Then I ask, 'Why do you care about us humans? Why are you concerned for us weaklings?' You made us a little lower than you yourself, and you have crowned us with glory and honor. You let us rule everything your hands have made. And you put all of it under our power--the sheep and the cattle, and every wild animal, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and all ocean creatures. Our LORD and Ruler, your name is wonderful everywhere on earth!" Psalm 8:3-9 (Contemporary English Version)
There are at least two things in that passage we need to hear. First, it says that God made people to be just a little lower than God himself. Of all the other creatures, God chose to crown us with glory and honor. In other words, by God’s choice, we are better and we are different from the rest of creation.
The second teaching from Psalm 8 we need to hear and remember is where it says, “You let us rule everything your hands have made.” That little word let is huge. Any and every authority we may have in this life is only because God lets us have it. Though part of our purpose is to rule over the rest of creation, we do so only with God’s permission and only under God’s authority for how creation should be ruled.
Truth, principle and guideline #2
Hear again how the creation story reveals that truth that everything has been entrusted to our supervision.
"God said, 'Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.'
"So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. God gave them his blessing and said: “Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28 (Contemporary English Version)
God crowned humans with glory, as Psalm 8 put it, by making us in the image of God. Created in the image of God means to be able to act like God and to reflect God’s glory to the rest of creation. God crowned us with honor, then, by choosing us to be the stewards, the administrators, the managers and the caretakers of the rest of creation. No other creature was given or entrusted with this responsibility.
And responsibility it is. It is not so much a privilege, but a responsibility. We’ve seen the abuses and abominations that authority figures can do when they consider their position and authority to be a privilege. Christian stewards guard against such abuses and abominations against people and creation by reminding ourselves that our position and authority in creation is a responsibility, not a privilege.
Plus, Genesis 2:15, an often overlooked verse, qualifies what it means for us to rule over creation and to bring it under our control.
"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it." Genesis 2:15 (New Living Translation)
God put Adam and Eve in the Garden for a purpose - to tend and take care of what God had created. They didn’t own anything in the Garden, but they could use it and enjoy its benefits. All they were asked to do was care for it.
Has anything really changed from that original instruction from God to humankind? When Genesis 2:15 is interpreted in light of Psalm 8, it seems that just as God expected Adam and Eve to tend and watch over the Garden of Eden, God expects us to exercise our God-given authority over creation today as stewards and caretakers of God’s creation.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism said, “When the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being, and placed you in this world, he placed you here, not as a proprietor, but as a steward. As such, he entrusted you, for a season, with goods of various kinds; but the sole property of these still rests in him, nor can ever be alienated from him. As you yourself are not your own, but his, such is, likewise, all that you enjoy. Such is your soul and your body, not your own, but God’s. And so is your substance in particular. And he has told you, in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for him, in such a manner, that it may be all a holy sacrifice, acceptable through Christ Jesus.”
Truth, principle and guideline #3
To be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us involves a two-prong approach. First we are to tend and care for what belongs to God. Remembering that everything belongs to God, we, then, are expected to protect and nurture everything that is around us. It’s like when we teach our children to respect and to care for our property, whether it is their own meager possessions (which have been provided by the parents), or the larger group of possessions owned by the whole family.
Jesus spent considerable time and the Bible devotes considerable space to teaching us, as God’s children, to respect and properly care for our meager “possessions” (which have been provided by our heavenly father) as well as the larger group of possessions owned by all of God’s family – namely, the world’s resources.
Truth, principle and guideline #4
On the other hand, not only do we have a responsibility to care for the earth and all creation, but we also have a responsibility not to cause it harm. I should say, not cause it any further harm. Genesis 3:17 tells that God cursed the ground because of the sin of Adam. Isaiah 24:5 (New Living Translation) confirms that truth when it says, “The earth suffers for the sins of its people.” Romans chapter 8 also teaches, “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Romans 8:20, 22 (New Living Translation) Our United Methodist denomination has only three general rules. The first two are: Do no harm; and do all the good you can. That’s a great description of Christian stewardship.
To summarize, the Christian understanding of stewardship is not a human one. It comes directly from God through the Word of God. The foundational biblical Law of Stewardship has been called the Law of Rightful Ownership. It says, Nothing truly belongs to us; everything actually belongs to God. King David acknowledged this when he stated in II Chronicles 29:12, “Everything in heaven and earth is yours, O Lord.” And he added right after that statement, “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.”
So, when we are blessed with time, money and material things, and when we receive acclaim for any accomplishment, we’re getting not what we deserve but what God in God’s grace lovingly allows us to enjoy and to care for. Some of us are entrusted with a lot, some with a little; but whatever comes to us brings with it an undeniable responsibility to manage and care for it wisely.
The temptation is to think that abundance is found in possessing life’s benefits. Actually, real abundance is discovered in the stewardship of life’s blessings. That’s why Jesus warned his disciples to watch out for covetous attitudes, because what we “own” does not determine who we are. In reality, there is only one rightful owner, and true satisfaction comes to us only in acknowledging God and wisely managing God’s resources.
As we attempt to live out our role as stewards for God, let our thinking be guided by these priorities.
Priority # 1 - Think of yourself as a manager of a trust. You have been given a key role and a great responsibility, so make the most of it. God has entrusted you with time, money, material things and great opportunities. Your objective is to maximize the investment of all that has been put into your hands.
Priority #2 - Think of each day as an opportunity for effective stewardship. Time is a precious commodity and we have a limited allotment of days, hours and minutes. Ephesians 5:15-16 (New International Version) advises, “Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.” Live every day and use every opportunity expressly for God’s glory and God’s purposes.
I close today’s message by asking you to ponder and reflect upon this question. Of those parts of God’s creation entrusted to your care, what kind of steward is God finding in you?
"Of Promises and Commitments” - delivered January 10, 2010
There are some interesting parallels to the Exodus story of Israel and the story being written now for the Stewartstown United Methodist Church. For one, God has liberated us both from bondage. The Israelites, individually and as a people, fwere delivered rom Egyptian slave masters. We, both individually and as a congregation, have been set free from being enslaved to sin and death.
For another we have shared similar journeys. After being set free, the people of Israel found themselves traveling through barren and difficult wilderness areas. There they experienced trials and troubles, both physically and spiritually. As a congregation we have found ourselves traveling through hard and painful wilderness areas as well. Just now we are emerging from a particularly difficult time of trial and trouble, both spiritually and physically.
Finally we both find ourselves poised on the brink of fulfilling our God-given calling and destiny. Before the Israelites moved forward, their leader Joshua challenged their commitment. Joshua called the tribes of Israel together for a meeting at Shechem. He had the leaders, including the old men, the judges, and the officials, come up and stand near the sacred tent. Then Joshua told the people:
“Worship the LORD, obey him, and always be faithful. Get rid of the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. But if you don't want to worship the LORD, then choose right now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you're living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you'll worship their gods. I won't. My family and I are going to worship and obey the LORD!”
The people answered: “We could never worship other gods or stop worshiping the LORD. The LORD is our God. We were slaves in Egypt as our ancestors had been, but we saw the LORD work miracles to set our people free and to bring us out of Egypt. Even though other nations were all around us, the LORD protected us wherever we went. And when we fought the Amorites and the other nations that lived in this land, the LORD made them run away. Yes, we will worship and obey the LORD, because the LORD is our God.”
Joshua said: “The LORD is fearsome; he is the one true God, and I don't think you are able to worship and obey him in the ways he demands. You would have to be completely faithful, and if you sin or rebel, he won't let you get away with it. If you turn your backs on the LORD and worship the gods of other nations, the LORD will turn against you. He will make terrible things happen to you and wipe you out, even though he had been good to you before.”
But the people shouted, “We won't worship any other gods. We will worship and obey only the LORD!”
Joshua said, “You have heard yourselves say that you will worship and obey the LORD. Isn't that true?”
“Yes, it's true,” they answered.
Joshua said, “But you still have some idols, like those the other nations worship. Get rid of your idols! You must decide once and for all that you really want to obey the LORD God of Israel.”
The people said, “The LORD is our God, and we will worship and obey only him.”
Joshua helped Israel make an agreement with the LORD that day at Shechem. Joshua 1, 14-25 CEV
We here at Stewartstown United Methodist Church are poised to fulfill our God-given calling and destiny to claim God’s Promised Land in this area. Before we move forward though, it seems appropriate and fitting that we, too, hear words that challenge the level of our commitment, individually and congregationally.
Joshua called the leaders of Israel together and challenged them to make the commitment to worship God, to obey God, and to be faithful to God always. Always. No matter what difficulties they would face, they were to be faithful in worship, in obedience and in service. No matter how hard their task would become, they were to be faithful in worship, in obedience and in service. No matter how tempting and appealing the blessings of the land around them, they were to be faithful in worship, in obedience and in service.
The commitment to worship, obey and be faithful is the anchor that grounds God’s people securely in their faith whenever the difficulties of the wilderness or the distractions of the world threaten to lead us away from God. Our commitment to God is what holds us fast to God when the storms of sin and life threaten to sweep us away. As we move forward to fulfill our God-given calling and destiny, whether as individuals or as a congregation, let us do so in the confidence that God has committed himself to us. In that confidence, let us rise to the challenge to commit ourselves to worship God, to obey God and to be faithful to God always.
Part of Joshua’s challenge to the leaders and people of Israel involved making a choice. True and sincere commitment is a voluntary choice. One is not truly committed to a person, a cause or an organization if one feels forced or expected to commit. Authentic commitment springs from genuine willingness.
Joshua’s challenge has thundered across the millennia – “Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” Remembering what God had done for them, the people enthusiastically and willingly pledged to worship and serve God and God alone. Yes, they said, we will worship and obey the LORD, because the LORD is our God.
But Joshua didn’t let it go at that. Three times he then questioned the people as to the sincerity of their choice and commitment. By doing so he was trying to help the people verify that their commitment was authentic and their willingness genuine. He also wanted the people to understand that commitment is more than just speaking words. Commitment is demonstrated by actions. Commitment involves belief, sacrifice, and dedication.
For one, to be committed to someone or to a cause requires faith and belief in that person or cause. For instance, people who are committed to environmental causes believe in the rightness and goodness of caring for God’s creation. President Obama got elected in part because people believed in his message of hope. They made their commitment to him because they believed the potential for success, for good, and for change that he espoused.
For us to say that we are committed to God, or to Christ, or to the Church, requires that we truly have faith and belief in God, in Christ, and in the Church. That faith and belief will be demonstrated by our actions. Joshua’s call to the leaders of Israel comes down to us today, You must decide once and for all that you really want to obey the LORD God of Israel.
We discover how sincere our commitment is, we discover if we really want to obey God, by the sacrifices that we are willing to make. To be committed means a willingness to lay aside personal desires, personal dreams, personal ambitions, personal comfort, and personal rights for God’s desires, dreams and ambitions.
The people of Israel pledged their loyalty to God. And yet, many of them still held on to idols they had picked up in Egypt and in the wilderness. Joshua called them, and us, on the carpet about such hypocrisy. To be committed to God meant that the people would have to be willing to sacrifice everything else in their lives that would eat into their commitment to God. To be committed to God meant that the people would have to be willing to give up everything else in their lives that would weaken their commitment to God. God wasn’t just to be the first or primary god they committed to. God was to be the only god they committed to.
As the people tried to claim new territory for God in the Promised Land, they would encounter temptations to worship and become committed to things in the new land instead of God. Joshua told them, If you don't want to worship the LORD, then choose right now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you're living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you'll worship their gods.
In order to be truly committed to God, we, too, are called to be willing to sacrifice and give up things we’ve worshipped in the past. To be truly committed to God, we, too, are called to be willing to sacrifice and give up things that others around us may worship and value, but would intrude upon our commitment to God.
For many people, though, the word sacrifice is a turn off. Perhaps this quote from Ben Gill will give us a different outlook and perspective on what it means to sacrifice for God. Ben Gill said, “Sacrifice is taking from something you love in order to give to something you love more.” To be committed to God is to claim to love God more than anything and everything else. Seen in this light, to make sacrifices for God or for the church doesn’t seem so off-putting.
Lastly, commitment is demonstrated by the level of dedication to whatever or whomever we are committed. Again Joshua’s ancient words ring true today. You would have to be completely faithful, and if you sin or rebel, he won't let you get away with it. If you turn your backs on the LORD and worship the gods of other nations, the LORD will turn against you.
As we prepare to commission our leaders and officers for 2010, let us each take to heart what it means to be committed to God, to Christ and to the Church. If we want to think of it in terms of a new year’s resolution, let each of us, leader, officer, servant or follower of Christ resolve to increase the level of our dedication so that we may draw ever closer to being completely faithful to God, to Christ, and to the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
“The Light” - delivered January 3, 2010
Each Sunday in December preceding Christmas different adornments were added to the sanctuary. The first Sunday the Christmas trees and evergreen wreaths appeared. More than just bright holiday decorations, those trees and wreaths directed our thoughts to reach up to God who is the source of hope. The evergreen tree and wreaths are symbols of hope that no matter what happens to us, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. They remind us that no matter how bad the diagnosis, nothing can take away the promise of eternal healing. They stand for the truth that no matter how deep the grief and sadness over a death, nothing can undo the victory that brings everlasting life.
The second Sunday the angel banners were hung. Fittingly, their appearance reminded us that any time angels appear, it is a sign that God is at work. Angels remind us that God is present in our lives and in our world. When we reach in to experience the presence of God in our lives, we discover a key that sets us free from captivity and imprisonment to destructive behaviors, and a key that binds up our broken hearts in God’s love.
On the third Sunday of December I was going to highlight the star that I thought would complete our sanctuary decorations. Little did I know that the eye-catching addition that week was not the star, but the multitude of poinsettias that appeared in the sanctuary. What I thought would be the central focus was actually lost in the context of everything around it.
Isn’t that true spiritually, too? Just as our sanctuary star can get lost in the color and numbers of all the poinsettias, how easy it is for us to lose sight of God’s presence and activity in our lives due to all the distractions around us. But the good news today is that God’s light still shines regardless of how much competition it faces. The annual theme for the first Sunday of January is light, focusing on Jesus as the light of the world or upon the arrival of the magi by the guiding light of the star of Bethlehem.
The star has its place in the birth story of Jesus as the sign that led the foreign magi to the place where the young Jesus was staying. There they acknowledged him as the rightful king of the Jews. But as with the evergreen trees, wreaths and angels, the star of Bethlehem can represent much more to us than just an ancient guiding light.
Light in general has been central and crucial to God and the plan of God for humankind from the beginning, as the first five verses of the Bible reveal.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. Genesis 1:1-5 New Living Translation
From Genesis 1:1-5 we discover that even before giving shape and substance to the earth, God created light. It was of the utmost importance to God to provide light. Specifically, from the very beginning, God made it a priority to insure that there would be a light to overcome darkness. That priority has never changed. The rest of the entire Bible tells the story of God’s light overcoming darkness in various ways and forms. The witness of the Biblical story proclaims that the light of God’s goodness consistently overcomes the darkness of evil. The testimony of Scripture is that the light of God’s righteousness always and ultimately overcomes the darkness of any and all unrighteousness.
The Gospel writer John chose to begin to tell the story of Jesus by going back to creation and highlighting the significance of light.
In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.
God sent a man named John, who came to tell about the light and to lead all people to have faith. John wasn't that light. He came only to tell about the light. The true light that shines on everyone was coming into the world. The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.
John 1:1-9, 14 Contemporary English Version
From this teaching we learn that Jesus, referred to as The Word, was with God in the beginning. We also learn that the Word became flesh – that’s a reference to the birth of Jesus that we just celebrated as Christmas. Lastly, those verses tell us that the life Jesus lived gave light to everyone. In fact, later in John 8:12, Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world. It says: Jesus spoke to the people again. He said, "I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will never walk in darkness. They will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12 New International Readers' Version
Now does all this mean that Jesus is the light referred to in Genesis that God created? No. Jesus was not created, so the light referred to in Genesis was actually light. But the light described in the beginning of the Gospel of John does refer to Jesus.
The light of Genesis penetrated the darkness before creation. Jesus came into the world to give spiritual light to penetrate the darkness of our sin-filled lives and world. Remember, The Bible says: Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone.
Since everything that was created received its life from him, in Jesus then is true life. What’s more, the life of Jesus gives us the light we need to navigate through the dark times of life – illness, unemployment, death. Again, that demonstrates the importance to God of light overcom-ing darkness, of good overcoming evil. What’s more, the Bible assures us that darkness will never overcome light. Verse 5 boldly proclaims that The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.
That is still true today. The light of Jesus keeps shining in the world’s darkness. The darkness still has not put it out, and never will. Whether physical or spiritual, darkness cannot encroach upon nor overcome a steady light. Rather, light will always dispel darkness. So, take heart - for the darkness of sin and evil cannot encroach upon nor over-come the light who is Jesus. Instead, Jesus, the Light of the World, has conquered the darkness we call sin and evil.
But, what do we do when we feel like the darkness of our lives has snuffed out God’s light. The key is to take our eyes off the troubles and problems, off of what’s dark in our lives, and to search for God’s light with eyes of faith. For those who truly seek the ways of God, like the magi, the light of Christ will shine like a beacon in the darkness.
Consider, most people did not see the star of Bethlehem. Though it was there, shining brighter than every other heavenly light, most people didn’t notice it or see that it was there. Those few who did see or notice it did not recognize it for what it was. Only those very few who were looking with eyes of faith saw and recognized the star as the beacon that would guide them to the King of kings, that would guide them to the Son of God, that would guide them to the Savior. Just so today, when we look at what happens around us with eyes of faith, we will see sights and signs of God’s love and power, lights in our darkness, that will guide us to Jesus.
What’s more, through the light of Jesus, we see ourselves more clearly. Because Jesus is the light of the world, and because the light has come into the world, what is dark in our lives has been exposed – to us and to others. We can’t escape it. It’s like looking in the bathroom mirror under florescent lights and seeing gray hairs that aren’t so visible in natural light. Once those gray hairs have been exposed and revealed to us, we can’t deny that they are there. Once the darkness of the sin and wickedness in our lives has been exposed and revealed to us, we can’t deny that they are there, either.
The good news is that the light of God is in the world. It is available to each of us through God’s Son, Jesus. Trust him, even though his light may show us things about ourselves we’d rather not admit. It may be painful at first to see ourselves that clearly, that truthfully and that honestly.
But the light of Christ is available to dispel all the darkness of the sin and evil we see in ourselves. The same light that revealed our shortcomings and wickedness is the light that will help us see our way clear of the darkness. That same light will be the guiding light to push back the darkness so we can navigate through this life so that we can arrive at the next life safely.
When we look at the stars we use as Christmas decorations, may we see in them the light that guided ancient wise people to the Light of the World. May we remember that the light of a star shining in the darkness showed the way to The Light who would shine unimpeded in the darkness of a sinful world. And may we never forget that it was the light of a star that shone brighter than all other competing lights in the heavens that pointed to the light that will shine brightest in the dark times of our lives.