I Love My Church- Giving (Stewardship) Series

I Love My Church

Stewardship

CCCAG March 17h, 2019

Scripture- Philippians 4:10-19

Intro:

“Spring time in the Coulee Region”

It's been a pretty eventful winter hasn't? Everybody so anxious for spring to get here we started to see some of it this week.

This last week we lost over 75% of our snowfall and a lot of the talk around town is who's basement is flooded. On the fire Department we spend some time filling sandbags and scooping out ditches so that the water could flow down to the River and save a few houses.

I've had several people tell me that they see in a few robins coming in in some of the migratory birds coming back into the area.

On Thursday the temperature was in the mid-50s so we were able to turn off the furnace and open up the house and get all that stale winter air out. It’s one of my favorite times of year we can finally open a window.

Spring has another thing that it is well known for particularly the date April 15th. What happens on April 15th?

Taxes

Tammie and I just submitted our tax return last week. One of the most interesting things that I look at on our tax return is how much charitable giving we did over the course of the last year. I always want to try and give a little more each year so it’s a good time to look and consider how we are managing the finances that God has given us to steward.

Stewardship is a critical aspect to how we live our lives before God. Sometimes the word stewardship can bring up emotions within us because every time stewardship is spoken about in church, it always seems to come back to how much we give in the offering each Sunday.

That’s unfortunate, because God’s mandate to us to be a good steward is not so much about giving, as it is the direction of our worship.

We worship what we value, and that is why stewardship is so important because what we give our attention to the most is what we really value in life.

Stewardship, if we were to define it, simply means to order your life in such a way that it shows everyone where your heart is really focused. Repeat. It’s part of your public witness of who you worship.

The Apostle Paul had somethings to say on this subject, so lets read them in

Phillipians 4:10-19 NIV

10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Continuing our series on I Love My Church, today we will be talking about Loving our Church through our Stewardship.

Why is this idea of stewardship important to our series about loving our church?

As we established a few moments ago, Stewardship, means to order your life in such a way that it shows everyone where your heart is really focused.

The everyone in that statement are the people who you worship with in your church, and the world around you including your family, your neighbors, your friends, and your community. That’s why this idea of stewardship, or how you order your life around the things of God is so important.

The first reason why this is important is because

I. Our Stewardship reveals our heart (vs 10)

I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.