Leading an Effective Steward: The Challenge

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Sunday, November 11, 2007

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You just finished signing your name for what seems like the umpteenth time in a stack of papers about yeah-thick and the banker hands you the keys to your new home. You’ve been anticipating this for over 18 months. You remember back when you were looking for a new place to live and you didn’t really find anything that you liked so you decided to have a home built just for you. When everything was said and done, it was a little bit above your price range but the mortgage was approved and you went through all the stress of picking out all the colors and the appliances and all the rest and now you had already started planning for that first party when you would have all your family and friends over so they could see your new dwelling. But now as you sit in this office and all the numbers are rolling through your head and all the legalese of all these documents that you just signed, somewhere in the recess of your mind you think, “My God, what have I just done?” That’s called buyer’s remorse.

You just get home from a big shopping trip. It has been a great day. You are proud of yourself. You have been on the hunt and you have been successful in bagging the bargains so it takes three trips to bring in all the packages and you line them all up on the table and you stand there kind of smug feeling good about yourself that you are way ahead on your Christmas list and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. Then all of a sudden, your spouse rounds the corner, comes up to the table and just pokes at a bag or two and looks inside and then your eyes meet and the euphoria of the day of shopping melts away. That’s called the look. It’s usually followed by the discussion.

You know, sometimes it’s hard to believe that God actually wants us to enjoy our possessions, that God really wants us to take pleasure in the things we have, our homes, our cars, our clothes, the gifts we give and yet, that’s true. Scripture speaks about that again and again, that we are to enjoy the blessings He gives to us. Now last week, we understand that everything we have belongs to God. I mean, ultimately, He is the creator of all things. He is the one who gives us the ability to earn an income so when it comes down to it, it’s all His but He entrusts it to us and He asks us to be good managers of it so to manage well our finances, our home, our property, all of that. But to go beyond just being a good manager and to be an effective steward is when we make that leap to not just managing well but enjoying, taking true pleasure in the possessions and the finance, all the things God has entrusted to us. That’s really what we’re on trek to do is to find out how we can move from the level of being a good manager to an effective steward.

Well, this week, in our pursuit of being an effective steward, we find out that God has some challenges for us. They’re delivered through the prophet, Malachi. The challenges He has, the end result is that He wants us to be that effective steward. Now you just heard the prophet, Malachi, so you understand the challenge God delivered to His people and the message Malachi had to give to the people wasn’t really an easy one and I can’t imagine that it was easy for Malachi to deliver that message. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s not really all that easy for me to deliver that message either except for the fact I have to remember God here is speaking not only to you but God is speaking to me.

And so this morning, I’m going to ask that you let God’s Word speak to all of us and that we not shut down and that we open up our ears and we open up our hearts and we hear and we meet God’s challenges. The challenges from the prophet of Malachi are threefold. The first challenge he gives to the people is to take a very honest and open look at how they are managing the resources God has given to them and, specifically, very specifically, to take an honest look at how they are responding back to God with their tithes and their offerings. The second challenge then is to make any adjustments that are necessary so we can manage our household in a God-pleasing manner and, finally, the last one is the challenge to enjoy the blessings God has given to us.

The first challenge God issues through the prophet, Malachi, is to take a really honest look, a very open look at how we’re managing God’s resources and, specifically, how we’re offering it back to Him. But it’s interesting, before the prophet issues this challenge, he sort of prefaces his remarks with something that, in one sense, seems a little bit out of context, especially when you look at the prophet, Malachi. The prophet, Malachi, is not an easy book to read. There’s a lot of judgment. There’s a lot of harsh language that God uses to His people through this prophet. And yet, here in Verse 6, He says, “I the Lord your God do not change so you, oh descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” He’s about to give a very challenging message to the people but, before he does, he offers this word of grace. He wants to remind the people so they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have a God in heaven who will not change. He is a God who has promised to always be there. He is the God of Abraham, He is the God of Jacob, He is the God of David and Solomon and He will continue to be their God. He has promised to take care of them. They will not be destroyed. He says, “I will keep my promise.” God says, “I will remain faithful. You are my people and I will remain your God.”

This morning, we need to hear God’s promise also as a preface to the challenge. You, my friends, are God’s people and He is your God. Nothing will ever change that. He is a God that says He will take care of your needs. Nothing will ever change that. He is a God who says you will not be destroyed. In other words, God says, “I will not let sin destroy you. I will not let sin come between us.” In fact, so much so, God says, “I’m so committed to that, I’ve already sent my Son,” and that’s why Jesus came so He could take care of not only our physical needs but our spiritual needs as well. God says, “You won’t be destroyed.” He says, “I’d rather watch my Son die than to see you be destroyed by sin.” And so, through Jesus, God says our sins are forgiven. And then through faith in Him, He says, “There’s a place in heaven which is reserved for us.” And nothing can take that away from you. That is God’s gift. You can’t earn it. You can’t pay for it. And frankly, we don’t deserve it but God gives it to us.

We have to lay that foundation down. We have to hear that word of grace so our hearts are ready to hear God’s word of challenge. God’s word of challenge is how have you been managing my resources? You see, Malachi doesn’t mince words and he calls the people to accountability. He says, “Ever since the time of your forefathers, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me,” says the Lord, “and I’ll return to you.” He says, “You’ve not kept my decrees.” God says, “I have been faithful,” but He says, “You need to face the fact that you have not been faithful.” And then He gets very specific with them. He really touches on a nerve for them because then He starts illustrating how they haven’t been faithful. And the first thing He picks on, “Will a man rob God, yet you robbed me.” But you ask, “How do we rob you?” “In tithes and offerings.” You see, the prophet gets very specific there and he gets very bold with his language. He says, “Are you robbing God by holding back on your tithes and your offerings?”

Time out. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Is God saying here that He is concerned with how much cash gets in the coffers? Is that what this is all really about? Is this all about how much comes in the offering plate, that God’s saying, “You know, enough is not coming into the temple.” “Is Pastor saying enough is not coming into the offering? Is that really what this message is all about?” Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s go to the word of Jesus to find an explanation for that. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” No one can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and love the other. He will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is. God is after the hearts of His people and God knows His Number 1 competition is money and possessions. And frankly, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know that’s true, too. We know money and possessions are vying for all of our attention and all of our allegiance. It’s vying for our heart. In other words, what is Number 1 in our life? What is it that we work the hardest toward? What is it that we set our goals for? What is it that we strive for? Is it to gather more money and more possessions or is it our relationship with God? What is it that we put our trust in? What is it we put our confidence in? Is our confidence and our trust in the fact that we have a good set of plans for our retirement? Is it the fact we have enough savings? Is it in our portfolio or is our trust really in God? You see, it can’t be both. Our heart can’t belong to God and money at the same time and God is pleading with His people at this point. He says, “I want your hearts because I want you to put your trust in something that will not let you down.” This is much more about the people’s hearts than it is about their wallets.

And that’s so important that God’s prophet is very bold. He’s very blunt in calling the people to accountability. He says, “But you ask how do you rob God? In your tithes and offerings. You’re under a curse, the whole nation of you because you’re robbing me.” Evidently, the people were shortchanging God. The Old Testament was very clear. God had set out a decree that 10% of everything you earned was to be given back to God. It was to be offered up at the temple and, obviously, the people were not giving the 10% and God wants to know what’s going on. God wants to know what’s happening with their hearts. Are they starting to put their trust in their possessions? Are they starting to put their trust in the wealth they have? God wants to know what’s happening with your heart, what’s happening with your priorities. And so He says, “Will you rob God?”

My friends, God is calling us to accountability this morning and He’s asking us the same question and we have to answer it. Will you rob God? It’s true enough that, in the New Testament, we no longer have the regulation of the tithe. All the regulations and rules of the Old Testament were done away with when Jesus came in. But God still speaks a lot about money. In fact, it’s one of the most popular topics in scripture. If we take a look at 1 Corinthians 16, it says, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up so that when I come, no collections will have to be made.” You see, God has always been about percentages. God doesn’t set an amount because He knows He has blessed His people differently, that everyone has a different income and so He says, “Have you set aside a percentage of your income to give back to God? Have you set aside a percentage of what I’ve given to you? Have you set it aside to give it back to me?” We look to the wisdom of Proverbs when it says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops.” Honor the Lord with your wealth. You see, God is issuing a challenge this morning and His challenge is this: He says you need to answer two questions. The first question is are you giving a percentage of your income back to God? And the second question goes along with that. He says does that percentage that you give back to God honor God or does it insult Him? Obviously, the people at Malachi’s time, it was insulting to Him. Are you honoring God? Can you truly say that and, if you can, then praise God. Are you honoring God with your offerings?

You see, I’ll be a little bit more bold with this. I happen to know that over 300 individuals who call Gloria Dei home gave $3.00 or less per week to the ministry here. I also know there is another 150+ that gave $15.00 or less per week to the ministry here. My friends, when I stop at Starbuck’s, I can’t get a grande white chocolate mocha for $3.00 and I can’t feed my family at McDonald’s for $15.00. Now I don’t know what your incomes are. For me, I would have a whole lot of trouble saying I was honoring God.

The challenge this morning is will you open up your hearts and will you take an honest look at how you’re managing His resources? And will you take an honest look at how you’re responding back and answer those two questions?

The second challenge goes along with that. The second challenge is will you make the necessary adjustments? Will you take the steps necessary so you can be a good manager and you can honor God with what you offer back to Him? And the first step with that, the first step is you need to spend time in prayer and in His Word. You can’t move any further until you’ve spent time in prayer and God’s Word and you have been assured beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is your God and that God will not change. The same words that preface this message have to be ingrained in your very soul. You have to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ lived and died for you and through His blood, you have been forgiven. You need to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that because of your faith in Jesus, there is a place in heaven for you and nothing can take that away from you and you can’t buy your way into heaven and you can’t earn your way into heaven. That is God’s gift and it will never, ever change. You have to know that first, so you have to spend time in prayer and in His Word.

And then you take the next step. Once you’ve taken an honest look at, “This is what I’ve been giving back to God,” you have to decide what is my goal? Where is it I want to be? Where is it when you look down inside of yourself, you say, “I’m not looking at my budget. I’m not looking at anything else. I’m just saying, ‘If I gave that much, then I could look God in the eye and say I’m honoring you with this gift.’” Is it 5%, 7%, 10%? I don’t know. God doesn’t give us a rule anymore. What is it? It’s different for each and every one of us because each and every one of us are in a different stage at life. Maybe it’s 12%. Maybe it’s 15%. I don’t know. But you have to decide what that is. Now more than likely, if you’re not there, you’re not going to make the leap all at once. Maybe some of you can but I doubt it. “So where is it I want to be.”

And then you have to take a step forward. Until you take that first step forward in starting to fulfill that, you won’t realize it and you won’t feel good about honoring God. If you’re not giving anything to God right now, figure out what is reasonable. What is it that you can gladly and willingly offer to God on a weekly basis? $20? $25? I don’t know what it is. You have to decide. It’s your budget. I don’t know your income. But where is a starting point for you? If you’re not happy with the percentages, is it 1% that you move? Is it 2%? Make the move.

The next thing is you have to have a comprehensive plan for how you manage everything God has given to you. I’m focusing in right now on the offerings because that’s what God’s Word is saying but, frankly, that’s a small piece of the entire puzzle because God says we’re to be good stewards of everything. We’re to be good managers of all He’s given to us, all of our property, all of our income, all of our possessions, we’re supposed to be good stewards of all of that. You have to have a comprehensive plan. Romans 13:8 says, “Pay off your debts.” Is that an issue for you? Have you gotten caught up in the whole credit card thing? 19%, 20%, 22% interest and you’re just spiraling down? Is it the second mortgage that has you? Is it the other loans that are happening? Where is it and, if so, then do something about it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t say, “I’ll look at it next week, next month.” Look at it this week. Take a cold, hard, honest look at how you’re managing what God has given to you and then make a plan. If you’ve been trying for years and have been unsuccessful, then call a credit counselor. Swallow the pride if that’s the issue. Wouldn’t it be better to swallow the pride and to start honoring God and to being a good manager and to stop having that stress about all the debt in your life? Make the call. Do the move. Manage well. Pay off your debt. Proverbs on several occasions talks about how we should save for the future. God is talking about our whole life here. He says you have to save for those unexpected things. This side of heaven, emergencies happen, disasters happen, furnaces fail, roofs need to be replaced. He says save for the future but, whatever it is, you have to have a comprehensive plan. And say, “Now how am I going to move towards that? How am I going to start paying off the debt? How am I going to start saving for the future? And how am I going to start responding back to God and move towards my goal so I can be at the percent where I say that I’m truly honoring God with this offering?”

That brings us to the third challenge. The third challenge is a good challenge. The third challenge is “Enjoy what I’ve given you.” Sometimes that’s a challenge. We get so caught up in trying to manage well, so caught up in the numbers and the figures that we don’t enjoy the blessings God has given us. Did you hear what the prophet ended this with? He said, “Bring the whole tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you’ll not have room enough for it.” He says, “I’ll prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your field will not cast their fruit.” He says, “Open up your eyes to God’s providence.” Not only do you see what God has given to you. You see what God doesn’t give you. Notice the trouble He doesn’t bring into your life. Notice the fact that the car doesn’t need to be repaired, that the roof doesn’t need to be replaced, that the furnace doesn’t go on the fritz. Notice all the things God takes care of you both pro-actively and also just as we see the things that don’t happen in our lives. And then enjoy the blessings. Experience the joy. Experience the joy of knowing you’re managing everything in a God-pleasing way. Experience the joy because it has to be joyful of giving back to God and knowing in your heart that you’re honoring Him, that you’re responding to His love and His grace.

There’s no more buyer’s regret and there are no more discussions because you’ve moved from being just a good steward to an effective steward. Amen.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church