Contribution
Sunday Sermon / Getting Ahead Sermon Series
May 13th, 2007
Intro:
Dr. James Dobson tells about a time he came home when his son, Ryan was a small baby. It had been a terrible day for his wife. Ryan had been sick, and had cried all day long. Once, as Shirley was changing his diapers, the telephone rang and she reached over to answer it before fastening up his diapers. Just then Ryan had an attack of diarrhea. She cleaned up that mess and put him in clean, sweet-smelling clothes. Then she took him into the living room and fed him. As she was burping him he threw up all over himself, and her and the couch too. Dobson said, “When I came home I could smell the aroma of motherhood everywhere.” Shirley cried out to him, “Was all of this in my contract?”
Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms.
Milton Berle, “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?
We have been talking about “Getting Ahead” in life. Considering what is most important in life. We have been considering those fundamental, base line attributes that will cause you to get ahead in life. So far we have covered, Satisfaction, Control, Expectation, and this week we will focus on Contribution.
If we are to truly “get ahead” in life we must learn we have a contribution to be made.
The opposite of “contribution” is selfishness (Greed; hording, the lust of the eye)
Greed and selfishness are two of the most effective joy killers.
The only cure for greed is to give; to contribute from your heart; to make sacrifices.
Contribute:
“To give or supply in common with others; give to a common fund or for a common purpose.”
“To help bring about a result” and “bestow a quality on.”
Our contribution always involves a conscious decision, and it often requires huge personal sacrifice
No other group of people understands this principle better than Mothers towards their children.
Text:
Isaiah 55:10-11
10"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
I. God Supplies it all.
Doesn’t it seem just a little audacious of God to take all the credit here?
He doesn’t even acknowledge the farmers hard labor.
We understand it takes a person’s labor to sow and reap; it takes a person’s labor to turn raw grain into bread. But who makes the greatest contribution here? Isn’t it God? He creates and gives the rain; He creates and gives the seed; He creates and gives the miracle of life and causes everything to Grow.
a. All good things come from God
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
i. Whatever blessings we have, comes from God.
ii. All good and perfect gifts come from God.
iii. Do you have any good things in your life?
1. Job?
2. Friends?
3. Family?
4. Then praise God for those.
iv. This world trains us to think about what we do not have.
Worldwide advertisement spending this year is expected to grow to $451 billion. Companies don’t spend that kind of money if it doesn’t work. We are saturated with advertisements. TV, Radio, Billboard, Newspapers, magazines, internet, spam email, direct mailing just to name a few. 451 billion dollars spent to make us feel completely unhappy, unfulfilled and ugly without their specific product.
And we all know, that once you have that “Special” thing, your life really takes off! Right? Not really. They really need repeat customers to sustain growth and grab their share of the market.
And we also know that in order to be really happy, we need more stuff and if we are going to get more stuff we need more money…or credit, which ever comes first.
Did you know Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven? In Matthew, Mark, and Luke: 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money. Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 deal with a person and his money.
It makes sense that Jesus would teach extensively about money, because he knows human nature. It’s greeds and passions are the most powerful detractors from accepting His Salvation. Why? I think it’s because we are near sighted. Out of sight; out of mind.
b. Selfishness is deceitful
One of the most important victories on the road to “Getting Ahead” is eliminating greed and selfishness.
i. A greedy person never has enough.
ii. A selfish person is never satisfied.
Luke 12:15 “(Jesus) said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
God is more interested in separating us from our selfishness than our money.
The last part of Isaiah 55:10 shows us secret: “…seed to the sower and bread to the eater”
The “sower” and the “eater” are one in the same.
II. We Apportion His Blessings
a. The difference between “bread” and “Seed” is what you do with it.
i. Realize, it all looks the same when God gives it to you. It all looks like grain.
ii. Now, I am thankful that we no longer have to plant, cultivate, harvest, thresh, mill, mix and bake before we can enjoy a loaf of bread.
iii. We can simply go to the kitchen and get a piece of bread and eat it. It’s practically instant, right? Or is it?
iv. Certainly, it isn’t as difficult for most people today to enjoy a loaf of bread, but don’t we still have to get up, drive to work, put in our 8-12 hours, wait until pay day, deposit it in the bank, drive to the grocery store, pay for it, bring it home and then enjoy the bread? There is still a process.
The first century farmer had to decide at harvest time how much he would set back for the next season’s planting and what he would process into ingredients for his household to eat. He would take the first-fruits and offer them to God, he would take 1/10 of his harvest to the temple as his tithe.
He would give some to God and the poor, sale some, eat some and save some for future seed.
When it really comes down to it, we are the same. The only difference is we have converted over to money. To make things simple, there are only two categories here, first what we give away and what we will consume.
2Corinthians 9:10-12 “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”
b. We really are only stewards in God’s House.
i. If we are Christians, then we know we belong to God, if “we” belong to God, then everything we have also belongs to God.
In his book, "The Weight of Glory" C.S. Lewis wrote,
"He cannot bless us unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There’s no bargaining with him."
ii. We are stewards of our time, talents, heart and resources. You have many worthy contributions.
iii. Learning to make those contributions with a grateful heart is critical to your “getting ahead” and our freedom from selfish living.
c. Freely give and freely receive.
Proverbs 11:24 “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
• Volunteer – Many things in life don’t have a monetary price tag. But everything takes time.
• Care – Let your heart be touched, lead with your heart.
• Give – If you don’t already, start tithing.
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1839-1937), founder of Standard Oil Co., gave away more than $500 million during his lifetime, the equivalent of $5 billion today.
Yes, I tithe, and I would like to tell you how it all came about.
I had to begin work as a small boy to help support my mother. My first wages amounted to $1.50 per week. The first week after I went to work, I took the $1.50 home to my mother and she held the money in her lap and explained to me that she would be happy if I would give a tenth of it to the Lord. I did, and from that week until this day I have tithed every dollar God has entrusted to me.
And I want to say, if I had not tithed the first dollar I made I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made.”
Faithful in little; Faithful in much.
Steve Ross owns and manages the Ross Seed Company, just north of Fisher Minn. Not far from White Earth.
“This story begins in 1983. We had been married five years. My business was five years old and it was struggling. The previous two years I had lost a fair amount of money and my banker was starting to ask a lot of pointed questions.
At about that same time, our pastor, Jim Hanson preached a sermon on stewardship. Kathy and I were just desperate enough to listen. He said that most Lutherans give away just 2 percent of their income.
So we figured out where we were at. Sure enough, we were very Lutheran. We decided to go really wild and increase our giving by 50 percent to 3 percent of income.
You need to know something. That was one of the hardest things we have ever done. It feels out of control, it feels frightening. The odd thing was, we seemed to make it a little farther into the month before we ran out of paycheck. The next year, we decided to do another crazy thing. We increased our giving to 4 percent of income. That year we even had a few months where we didn’t run out of paycheck.
The next year we increased our giving again, to 5 percent of income. The odd thing was that each year we did this, it got easier. You see, we had set ourselves on a path of obedience. And by our obedience, we had opened a pathway for God’s grace. We began to see blessings come into our life in many different ways. Mostly we found that we were growing closer to God and a desire to please him had begun to grow in us. At this point we saw that if we only increased giving by 1 percent a year, it was going to take us another five years to get to tithing. So the next year we doubled our giving to the Kingdom of God and went straight to 10 percent. Today we go well beyond 10 percent because we so enjoy giving.
In our spiritual journey, the decision to tithe was not only the hardest, but also the one of the best we have ever made. We would never consider not tithing now. Tithing has been the single most life-changing and faith-stretching decision we have ever made. The thing that has amazed us most is the joy! We experience more joy and satisfaction from the money we give away than from the money we keep.”
Our contributions go beyond money, for sometimes the easiest thing to do is give money. He also want’s us to give of our hearts.
Hosea 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
Conclusion:
In a world were “Suicide bombers” are a household name, the world isn’t asking if we are willing to give up our lives for Christ, they are asking, “Are we willing to give our lifestyle to Christ.”
Becoming a “Living Sacrifice” is often far harder and more sacrificial than giving our life.
We may in fact be willing to give our lives, but are we willing to give our lifestyles? Giving your life for Jesus, requires dire circumstances. We couldn’t deny our Lord when push comes to shove. But what about in the little things? Everyday things?
There is a phrase being used for this, “Downward mobility” in your lifestyle.
It literally means to drive older, smaller cars, live in smaller houses and spend less on vacations to make available more resources for building the Kingdom of God.
