Stewardship is an Act of Worship

November 16, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

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

From Deuteronomy 8, "You may say to yourselves, 'My power and the strength of my hands has produced this wealth for me,' but remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth."

Last week we discovered or we were reminded of the fact that everything we have really comes from God. Certainly, all of you work very hard for your paychecks. You put in long hours. Maybe you've made sacrifices for your careers; but when you finally bring it all back down to the fact, it is God who has given us all that we have. It is God who has given us the intellect so we can do our job. It is God who has given us the physical strength so we can do our job. It is God who has given us life itself. So, in reality, all that we have, all that we possess, all that is in our bank account comes from God. Therefore, God, in His Word, has much to say about how we manage the gifts He has given to us.

Last week we discovered that God has over 2,000 references to money, possessions, and financial matters in scriptures because God seeks to instruct us, to let us know how we can be the best managers of all the gifts He has given to us. Last week we identified five key principles from scripture, five key principles in managing the financial wealth that God has given to us.

This morning I'd like for us to just briefly review them and then zero in on the second one. Hopefully, all of you received an outline as you came in to service. If you don't have one, if you would raise your hand, I'm sure the ushers would be willing to bring you one. Just raise it indiscreetly so you're not embarrassed, but they'll bring you one.

The five key principles that God taught us last week were: 1) Recognize all we have is from God. God has given us everything. 2) Give back the first part to God. In other words, God gives us the opportunity to respond back to Him, an opportunity not to fall into the trap of putting too much trust in our wealth and our possessions believing that is what's going to take care of us, but instead a way in which we demonstrate that God is Number 1 in our lives and demonstrate that we trust Him. Therefore, we're going to give back a portion to Him to show that He is the first place in our life. 3) Then God says we are to save for the future. 4) He tells us we are to repay what we owe. 5) And then He says enjoy what we have. That is the secret of contentment of enjoying all the blessings that God has given instead of constantly wanting more.

This week we get down to very practical matters because God says once we recognize and accept that all we have is from Him, then we're to give back the first part. Give back a portion to demonstrate our trust and our faith and our spiritual maturity. So this week is a very practical message because the obvious question is how much? What is it that God is looking for from me? How much does God want back? We discover from today's scripture that what God wants is a proportionate. A proportion to how He has blessed us we give back to Him.

There are several obvious questions. The first one is what about the tithe? We might as well address that question because we hear it all the time. We hear the word tithe even in our worship folder. Sometimes we say it's the gathering of tithes and offerings, so what is the tithe? Well, the word tithe simply means 10%. Nothing more. That's all the word means is 10%. And it refers back into the Old Testament where God asked for a tithe from the people. Well, that means we need to study it. It doesn't mean, because it's in the Old Testament, it's irrelevant, it isn't worth our time. No, but we also need to understand in the context of the Old Testament what it is that God was asking for. Well, there are several references. We're just going to look at two. Take a look at Leviticus with me. It says, "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord. It is holy to the Lord. The entire tithe of the herd and flock, every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod will be holy to the Lord." So God says a tenth of everything you own comes back to me, People of Israel. A tenth of whatever the land produces and also a tenth of whatever your livestock produces, those come back to me. But then there's another passage, and that is in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy says, "Be sure to set aside a tenth of all your fields produced each year." And this scripture lesson is in the context of a celebration that they have annually, a celebration of the harvest coming in. And then there's a third passage we're not going to look at and that says, every three years, you're to give a tenth of the produce of the land to take care of the poor and to take care of the widows. There are some scholars that suggest that it wasn't just a tenth that God was asking for from the people; but, on a yearly basis, He was asking for a tenth of the livestock and the fields and then another tenth at a different time of that what the field produced and then, in the third year, another tenth of what the field produces to take care of the poor and the widows. In other words, God was saying somewhere between 10, 20, or 30 percent of what I have given you I ask you to give back to me. Where does that leave us as New Testament people? The New Testament does not command the tithe. You all can breath a sigh of relief now. I can see it. Your shoulders are relaxing. "He hit that 30% mark, and I got nervous." I could see you. In the New Testament, God doesn't designate the tithe. Instead, in the New Testament, what God asked of us is He is looking for a proportionate response. How God has blessed us, so we give a portion of that back to Him. And in reality, that's what God was asking in the Old Testament as well. Take a look at the passage from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy says, "No man should appear before the Lord empty handed. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you." The New Testament equivalent of that is Paul teaching the church of Corinth. He says, "Now about the collection for God's people, do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income." In keeping with your income, we set a portion of that back to God. In reality, even in the Old Testament, that's what God was asking. Yes, God gave them the tools of the tithe; but the purpose of the tithe was to teach them regular, proportionate giving back to God so they would never lose sight that God is the one they trusted in, that God was the provider of all they had. So, in the Old Testament, God used the tithe. In the New Testament, God simply leaves it up to us in Christian freedom. But what He says is, "give a portion," a portion of your income depending upon how much God blesses you, you give a portion of that back to Him.

What that really means in practical terms is that the tithe is neither the floor nor the ceiling. The tithe is neither the floor nor the ceiling. God is looking for generosity. That's the rule that God is looking for. God is looking for us to be generous back to Him. How can we honor God with the gifts that we offer back to Him? Well, the first place we need to start is to recognize how generous God has been with us. When you ask the questions, "How much are we worth to God? How much was God willing to pay for us? How far was God willing to go for you?" Scripture answers that. First of all, He says in 1 Corinthians 6, "You're not your own. You were bought at a price." Each one of you cost God. I cost God. And the price that God had to pay, it was a steep price. It was a hefty price. John 3:16 is only one of the scriptures that talks about what God had to sacrifice for us. John 3:16 says that God so much loved you that He was willing to give up His only Son for you so that you wouldn't have to have eternal death. No, instead, by faith in Him, you could have eternal life. God was willing to take everything He had. He was willing to take His one and only Son and to sacrifice Him for us. He was willing to stand by and to watch Jesus, Jesus who was innocent of all sin, suffer and die on a cross. God the Father was willing to take your punishment and my punishment and to lay it upon His Son and to watch Him die. God was willing to make that payment so we could gather here this morning and we could hear the sweet words of forgiveness each and every Sunday and we could know that eternal life is granted to us and to those we love. We know that God sacrificed everything for us. That's how generous He was to us. So now the question is, "How do we respond to that?" How can you respond to that? How can you respond to a God who is willing to sacrifice so much? God gives us the guidelines that we give a portion of what He's given to us, a portion of our financial wealth, back to Him. But the rule of thumb is that we give it generously. The scripture lessons say in 2 Corinthians 9, "Remember that whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Or, again to the church at Corinth, he says, "For I testify that they (that is the Macedonians) gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability entirely on their own but just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and love for us, see that you also excel in the grace of giving."

People of Gloria Dei, God is saying to you this morning, as you excel in everything, as this congregation excels in so many things, as we excel in praises to God, as we excel in worship, as we excel through our Sunday School and the educating of our children, as we excel in so many things, God says also excel in the grace of giving. We do everything else with excellence. Also, in the area in the grace of giving to excel in that, to strive towards generosity as we give back to God a portion of what He's given back to us. In other words, what God is saying is that the tithe is neither the floor nor is it the ceiling. The tithe doesn't necessarily have to be the floor. In other words, the tithe isn't something that God mandates to us. For you, in your circumstances, 10% may be the ceiling. That is, you look at your income and what it just simply costs to live in this world, what it costs to put food on your table, clothes on your back, and a home for your family. You may look at that, and you may say 10% of what I own, wow, that's a lot. Don't know if I can pay my bills. Then, for you, the tithe is the ceiling. It's a goal for you to shoot for, for you to go after. But there are others of us who have been so abundantly blessed by God that the tithe really is the floor. It's the ground level. God has given us such an income, God has provided so bountifully for us that 10%, in reality, if we looked at it, isn't that much. In fact, 10% for us just simply wouldn't be generous. It would be the minimal amount. And so, in that case, the tithe is the floor and we only go up from there as we respond back to God. The point is that we respond to God in a proportionate way. When we ask ourselves, what I'm giving to God, does that bring honor to Him? Does that demonstrate generosity on my part? That's really what it comes down to.

To be really straightforward about it, does the amount you put on the check matter? Just cut to the heart of it. Does the amount you write on the check matter? And the answer to that is no and yes. The answer is no and yes. It doesn't matter that each and every one of us gives the same amount. It doesn't matter that each and every one of us are on the same percentage. No, that doesn't matter. What matters is that we are honoring God with our giving and that we are being generous to God. So does the amount matter? No. But yet, yes, it does. Yes, it does. Because you really have to ask yourself am I honoring God with what I'm giving? What I'm saying is this: For most of us, if what we write on the check is equivalent to a Combo Meal #3 Super-sized, we have a problem. You have to ask yourself some very personal and deep questions. In relation to what I spend on other things, where does God fall? I'm not talking about essentials. I'm not talking about your food, your clothing, your shelter. The things that you spend on yourself, the cable TV, the Internet access, the golf games, the going out to dinner, hitting the movies. All those things are fine and wonderful to do. But in relation to how much you spend on that, how does that compare to how you respond back to God? And, in that case, yes, the amount does matter. Are you putting God first in your life? Are you bringing honor to Him? Are you being generous with Him as you respond back to His generosity in your life?

I realize this is a deeply personal matter for you, and it is something that I know you need to struggle with. I know it is something I have to struggle with. It is something that every Christian must struggle with, so let's do it. Let's struggle with it today, and let's struggle with it this week. Let's ask the hard questions. Let's take a look at our giving and how we're responding back to God. And I guarantee, no, God guarantees that you will be blessed because of it. If you honestly and seriously look at it and you struggle with this issue and you come to a conclusion, you say, "This is what I'm going to give to God and this is honoring God and this is being generous for where I am right now," God's blessings will flow down upon you in ways that I can't describe. Will they be physical blessings? They could be, but they're deeper blessings than that. They're spiritual blessings. When we come to grips with our giving back to God, we do a spiritual quantum leap because we demonstrate in a tangible way, in a way that really strikes at the core of us that we trust God and that we believe Him. So let's struggle with it. In fact, let's not stop right here. Let's not just hear about it. Let's not just learn what God has to say. Let's make it a reality. Let's make it happen. Let's make it real.

You may or may not have noticed there is a second page to your outline. I'd like you to turn to that because we need to make it real. On the inside, there are three questions, questions that need to be asked. And what we need to do is we need to dare to ask those questions, dare to ask the right questions. And the first question is this: Where am I right now? What percent am I giving back to God right now? We need to have the information. We need to know where we are. So there is provided for you a chart. And do I want you to do it right now? Yeah, I do. Because I think when you get home the devil's going to get a hold of you and you're going to toss it to the side and say, "Well, I know pretty much anyway or I can guesstimate pretty close." Well, let's not guesstimate, shall we? One column says this is what you make per year. The other one breaks it down per week. And then a weekly offering, that tells you what percent you're at. I'm not doing this to make you feel guilty. Nor am I doing this to puff you up with pride to say, "See how good I'm doing." All I'm saying is let's deal with reality. Let's know where we are. Where is my giving? What percent am I giving back to God? Go ahead, take a minute. I'm going to keep talking because we don't have the luxury of time. But find yourself on there what percent am I giving? Dare to ask the question, "Where am I right now?"

The second question is, "What's my goal?" Is the tithe going to be the ceiling or the floor for me? Only you can answer that question through a lot of prayer. A lot of prayer, talking in your family, ask yourself how has God blessed me, what is my income at? Is the tithe the ceiling or is it the floor? What goal do you want to set for yourself? That doesn't mean that you're going to make the goal this year. I'm going to be clear about that. It depends upon where you are. If you're at 1% and your goal is 10%, bless the Lord if you can do that in one year. I don't know too many budgets that can handle that. Set the goal.

Then the third question is really critical. "Will you move towards the goal?" Instead of saying, "Well, you know, once I get the car paid off, once I get the kids through college, or once I get that promotion, then I'll start moving towards that goal." No, the question is today, this week, will you start moving towards the goal? If you're at 1% or 2%, are you going to move it to 4% or 5%? If you're at 4% or 5% and your goal is 10%, are you going to hit 7% or 8%? If you're at 10% and you think it should be at 15%, are you going to move it to 11%? What's the goal and are you willing to start moving towards that goal? Are you willing to step out in faith and to say, "God, I trust and believe and I'm going to do this." Now I'm not going to do financial suicide here but, in a reasonable way, following the principles that God has given you, will you start moving towards that goal?

Then make the commitment. Once you've asked the questions, make the commitment. This week, you're going to receive in the mail, members of Gloria Dei, two pledge cards. One will be what you will lay on God's altar next week as we have a rip-roaring celebration of what God has blessed us and how we celebrate giving it back to Him. The second one is for you to keep. You're going to get it this week, and I'm going to ask you to struggle with it. God's going to ask you to struggle with it. Now I have heard some people say, "Well, I just don't pledge. I just give to the Lord." Okay. If you don't believe in pledging, that means I guess you've never had a house payment and you've never had a car payment because those are pledges that you make. And I'll tell you what, the bank and the mortgage company get really feisty if you don't keep your pledge, don't they? They don't like that. So if you can say that, then I guess you don't believe in pledging. The other thing, which is more important to me, is that it's dangerous. It is dangerous not to put it in writing. It is dangerous not to pledge because the devil will play with you, and he will convince you of things that simply are not true. What the devil will do is, for several weeks in a row, you will forget your offering and then all of a sudden, you will come to church and say, "Oh, my goodness, it's been awhile since I made an offering," so you'll write out what considers to you to be a very generous check to the Lord and you'll fold that and you'll put it in the envelope and you send it up there and you'll say, "I have been generous, haven't I?" Except when you come to the end of the year and you look back, you'll be far from your goal because you have convinced yourself that you've been far more generous than what you actually have been. That's how the devil works. It works that way in my household. I know he works that way in your household. Put it in writing. Make it real. Hold yourself accountable. And the most practical of all of them is free yourself from the Sunday morning scramble. You all know the Sunday morning scramble. I really don't know the Sunday morning scramble because I'm not at home. I come here real early, so I don't know what all my wife has to go through to get here, but you all know what the Sunday morning scramble is. You have to get up, you have to get the kids ready maybe, you have to get yourself ready, you have to depend on traffic, you have to get here. If you wait until Sunday morning to make the decision of how you're going to respond back to God, more than likely it's going to be a scramble. Either you're going to be at home trying to write it out before you walk out the door or you're going to sit down in the pew and you're going to say, "Oh, man, I sat too close to the front. The ushers are going to be here, and I don't have time." What's going to happen is that offering is not going to be a joyful thing to you. It is not going to be a responsive joy and worship for you. It's going to be an obligation. God tells us in the book of 2 Corinthians he doesn't want gifts of obligation. He doesn't want gifts that are given out of compulsion. No, He says decide in advance what you're going to do and then cheerfully give it back to the Lord. When you have decided this week what you're going to give back to God next year, the decision is made. There is no Sunday morning scramble. It's all set. It's all done. You just simply, joyfully, eagerly give it back to God.

I want to share something with you from my personal life. This past year, halfway through the year, not even halfway through the year, Michelle, my wife, and I started talking about our offering and we weren't happy with where it was. We weren't happy with how much we were giving back to God nor were we happy with the frequency in which we did it because she's got the Sunday morning scramble trying to get two kids and two teenagers out the door. And so we sat down and we talked about that, and we made a couple decisions. And this may not be for you, but it certainly works for our family. The first decision we made was we were going to increase what we gave to God. Now I need to tell you we did that, and we have not noticed one iota of change in our lifestyle. I don't understand how that works through logic. I understand how it works spiritually, but logically I don't see how that works. The numbers don't add up, but that's the truth. We haven't noticed it one iota. The second thing that we decided to do was we were going to take the Sunday morning scramble out of our life, and we signed up for something called Simply Giving and that's basically an electronic funds transfer. In other words, it takes money out of our account and puts it into the church's account, and it happens on the 1st and the 15th. You see, I get paid on the 1st and I get paid on the 15th, which means the first transaction on the 1st goes to God. The first transaction that the bank records on the 15th goes to God. Before I pay anything else in our household, before we buy groceries or anything else, the first thing that happens is a portion of it goes back to God. We have been so blessed by that. We have been so blessed with that knowledge. We believe that we're honoring God. We don't believe we're being generous enough, and we've already started talking about how we're going to start working towards our goal, but that makes it real. That brings it to life.

That's what we need to do, People of God. We need to heed God's call. He talks to us about money, and He talks very straightforward about it. It's up to you to listen, for this week for you to struggle maybe, spend some time in prayer, and to make that commitment and step out in faith. I want you to be blessed as my family has been blessed with those decisions and struggling and wrestling through that.

This week, struggle a little. Spend some time in prayer. Look at all that God has given to you. Then bring honor to His name. Be generous with God. And next week, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate as we fill the aisles and we put our commitments on the altar and we praise God and know that He's going to bless us because I know that He will. Amen.

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Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church