Paving the Way through Stewardship
Matthew 6:19-24
Why Sacrifice?
Sacrifice Draws me Closer to God – Matthew 6:21
Sacrifice Frees me From Materialism – Matthew 6:24
How to sacrifice?
Sacrifice the Best, NOT the Worst – Malachi 1:6-8
Sacrifice Willingly, NOT Unwillingly – 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, 11-12
Sacrifice Cheerfully, NOT Begrudgingly
Sacrifice Sacrificially, NOT without Cost
Video – Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford – SNL skit
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That video seems so common sense, but the reason it makes us laugh is that so many have been caught in a cycle of spending money we do not have, believing that as long as we can make the monthly payments, we can afford it.
The last several years in this economy have taught us otherwise. We need to be wise stewards of the resources God has given us.
What does wise stewardship mean in real life?
According to the Bible, we see a couple of characteristics of what wise stewardship means. First
Wise stewardship means Saving
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Proverbs 21:20 - In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.
It is important to not spend all we have, but to save up for future expected expenses, like buying a house or some major expense, or for unexpected expenses, like car trouble or medical expenses.
Now this doesn’t mean that we should not ever borrow money, but we should only borrow against real assets like a home or things that have long term value, like a car or our education. We want to even be cautious there, not borrowing against the entire value of something to allow for fluctuations in the market value, so you are not left holding an asset that is worth less than you owe.
We should not borrow money on something we are going to consume now, like vacations or going out to eat.
These things used to be common sense, but when we experienced a stock market and real estate market that seemed to go perpetually higher, people began forgetting these principles and when the bubble burst and the market tumbled, and jobs were lost, it left a lot of people in very bad financial shape.
We need to understand that saving is Wise stewardship.
Now even while it is wise to save, we also need to understand that
Wise stewardship means Sacrifice
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Sacrifice? How can we save and sacrifice at the same time?
Well, we need to understand that while it is wise stewardship to save, it is not wise stewardship to hoard.
Listen to this parable that Jesus tells.
Luke 12:16-21
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16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ’What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 "Then he said, ’This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ’
20 "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
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We are to save and be rich toward God.
This can only be accomplished through a relationship with Christ and keeping our eyes upon Him and seeking His Kingdom and Righteousness.
Part of the reason that God wants us to save is so we have something to sacrifice when a need arises, so we can be rich toward God.
Being able to sacrifice and give is also part of the reason we are to work, so that we might have something to give and sacrifice.
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Ephesians tells us that a person “must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” (Ephesians 4:28, NIV)
We aren’t supposed to work just to provide for ourselves, but to be able to give to help those in need and help people come to Christ.
In fact Paul encourages us to excel in giving.
2 Corinthians 8:7
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But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
How is it that we can glorify the Lord and excel in this grace of giving, in sacrifice?
I believe that first, if we are truly going to be able to sacrifice, we must understand why we are to sacrifice.
I want to share with you 2 reasons that Scripture gives for WHY we should sacrifice and then talk about some practicalities concerning HOW the Bible tells us to sacrifice.
Turn with me to
Matthew 6:19-24
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19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Pray
The first reasons why we should sacrifice is,
Sacrifice Draws us closer to God
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Matthew 6:21 -For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
It doesn’t say where your heart is there your treasure will be.
It says where your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be.
If you are hoarding your stuff, your heart is going to be with your stuff.
If we put our treasure toward the things of God, our heart is going to be drawn toward God.
And as our heart is with Him, we experience greater joy and peace and fulfillment in life than would be possible otherwise. That is because it is in close relationship with Him where those things are found.
God doesn’t just want us to sacrifice because it will make us poor, but because it requires us to be dependent upon him and that draws us closer to Him and as we are drawn close to Him, we have more peace and joy.
There are those here, I am sure who question this. My advice would be to test this.
I know there are those here who have sacrificed for the Lord in the past and have experienced a deepening relationship with Him as you relied on Him more.
Sacrifice draws us closer to God.
A second reason He wants us to sacrifice is that
Sacrifice Frees us from Materialism
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Matthew 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
We live in a world were money is a continual temptation to be a god (small g).
The more we sacrifice,
the more we give it away,
the less likely it is to become a god to us and
the more we will be set free from the bondage that is materialism.
Whether we want to admit it or not, materialism is a temptation for all.
When we think of people being materialistic, we think of people with a lot of stuff. But materialism is a mindset and it can affect people who have very little. It takes our attention from where it should be (on serving and glorifying God) and puts it on things; a bigger TV, a new car, etc.
We can free ourselves from the bondage that is materialism though, by regularly giving back to the Lord for His kingdom work.
Christians today need to realize that we are not in this world to accumulate and hoard wealth. We are here to help the Lord accumulate saved souls.
Sacrifice and be free from materialism.
Transition
Ok. So we see the benefits to our own life from sacrificing, but how should we sacrifice?
How can we sacrifice in a way that honors God?
Well the Bible does give some guidance on how to sacrifice to honor God.
First, you need to
Sacrifice the Best, Not the Worst
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Malachi 1:6-8
6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
"But you ask, ’How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 "You place defiled food on my altar.
"But you ask, ’How have we defiled you?’
"By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
Do you ever get a call from some charity looking for a donation of stuff?
What do you do? You look around for things you don’t use.
Now while I don’t think that is wrong, it is not sacrifice.
It does not honor the Lord to give Him what you don’t need or don’t want.
That doesn’t glorify Him.
When we say to the Lord, “Lord, let me pay all of my bills and use what I need, then I will give to you” we are basically saying, “Lord, I don’t trust that you have provide enough for me to live on.”
When we sacrifice for the Lord, we need to give Him the best part of what we have and that is the first part of what we earn.
We practice and teach tithing here at Hickory Creek, which is the giving of the first 10% of what you earn. It is a good way of saying Lord, I am giving back to you this first portion of what you have given me, trusting you to meet my needs.
So when we sacrifice, we are to sacrifice the best, not the worst.
Secondly, we also need to
Sacrifice Willingly, NOT Unwillingly
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2 Corinthians 8:1-4, 11-12 - 1 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
Then Paul encourages the Corinthians to be like the Macedonians
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
As we prepare to make commitments to this Paving the Way campaign, Recognize that God only wants you to give what you are willing to give.
When we began this campaign, I said that you would not be pressured into doing something you did not want to do. While I do want to pressure you because God doesn’t need what you are unwilling to give. I do, however, want to challenge you, because as we give cheerfully, God uses the willing sacrifices of His people to accomplish His purposes.
When we come willingly and sacrifice for God, we bring glory to Him and we open ourselves up to receive the blessing of being used by Him.
So don’t sacrifice what you are unwilling to sacrifice, but do so willingly for His glory.
Not only do we need to sacrifice willingly, we need to
Sacrifice Cheerfully, NOT Begrudgingly
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2 Corinthians 9:7 - Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
We should be joyful in sacrificing for the Lord. There is nothing more exciting than being used by God to accomplish His purpose.
In 2 weeks, we are asking those who call Hickory Creek their home, to sacrifice and make commitments of giving and serving so that we can continue to be effective at fulfilling the commission the Lord has given us.
God has been using the ministry of this body of Christ to see people continue to be reached and to grow in their relationship with the Lord.
We have seen and continual stream of Baptisms in the past year, we have people who have overcome addictions, we have people reaching out and serving in the church and community so the gospel continues to go forth and people’s needs are being met.
Even today, we have a table full of food that will be used to help those in our community who are in need.
When the resources we are sacrificing are being used in ways that are truly having an effect on our community and more importantly in the kingdom of God, we should be rejoicing that we have been given the privilege of being used by God in such a way.
If you are going to sacrifice, do not do it begrudgingly, but cheerfully knowing that God is using you to bring glory to Himself.
Finally, we need to
Sacrifice Sacrificially, NOT Without Cost
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In 2 Samuel 24:21-24, when the Lord commanded David to build an altar on the land of Araunah the Jebusite, Araunah asks
"Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."
22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you."
24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
It is impossible to truly sacrifice, without it costing something.
I know that as we began this campaign to prepare for the work we believe God is going to continue to do here, it is scary for some of us.
The economy is bad. People are without jobs
This is just too much for us to accomplish.
You’re right. It is too much for us to accomplish.
But it is not too much for God to accomplish.
Two weeks ago, we talked about how God wants us to prepare for a miracle.
He will take what we offer him and multiply it as we give it in faith.
Info meetings – Overview
If you missed our informational meetings talking about our plans to accommodate growth as we go forward you can pick up an informational packet in the foyer or find all this info on our website.
A brief overview is that we are
adding a staff member
to help us add more and better opportunities for people to grow
adding a Saturday evening service in fall
to be able to continue to reach people for Christ
The items that will cost us some significant financial resources are
adding a left turn lane as IDOT expands Rt. 30. If we don’t pay for the turn lane at an estimated cost of $120,000, we will have an un-mountable median running completely in front of our property.
With this construction, we can also connect to sewer and water, which is across the street at about 50% of the cost it would normally be if we had to bore under the road.
Connecting to sewer will allow us to expand our site into the future with parking expansion and building expansion.
Priorities –turn lane, entrance, sewer and water
The leadership has determined that moving our entrance, so we can add the turn lane, and connect to sewer and water are necessary for us to effectively continue to reach people for Christ and maintain the value of our property.
Without doing those things which will cost around $300,000 will hamper our ministry and negatively affect the value of our property.
Our hope is to get commitments to cover at least these expenses and raise as much of it as we possibly can in the next couple of months.
Additional Parking
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Once we have connected to sewer and water, we can begin to alleviate the problems we are experiencing with the crowding in our parking lot. During our second service we have to shuttle cars to and from the Kohl’s parking lot and our lot is still full most weeks. That means that if someone who wants to know about Jesus comes late, there is no place for them to be able to park.
So, we have developed plans to add 50% more parking so we can continue to reach more people while maintaining a size that is around 350 people per service.
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With our current parking we can only accommodate about 225 or at most 250 people per service.
The cost of parking could be around $200,000. We would love to be able to raise enough in commitments to put in this additional parking as well.
Beyond that, we also have some plans for the future to expand the building
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so we will be able to optimize the use of this to about 350 or so people per service before adding more services and sites. This is future.
About People
Now it is important that we keep our focus even as we seek to add these improvements. Our ultimate goal is not about expanding this site, but about seeing the Kingdom of God expanded as people trust and receive Him as Savior, and grow in their relationship with Him.
A Tithe to Missions and Benevolence
To help us keep that focus, we have committed 10% of what we raise to use toward missions and benevolence purposes. Half of that we will use toward reaching people around the world and half we will use to assist those close to home facing financial struggles.
What we are asking
We are looking for those who call Hickory Creek their home to be praying about what you may be able to sacrifice so we as a body might be able to begin to accomplish these enhancements so we can continue to fulfill the commission that God has called us to.
How in the world can we do these things in this economic environment?
Well first, we need to recognize that God is God and can do the things He desires without any of us. However, He has chosen to use His people to accomplish His work and it is glorifying to Him.
Let me read the account of how the Lord built the Temple for Himself using David and Solomon to lead that process.
1 Chronicles 29:1-5
29:1 Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God-gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble-all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?’…
God is the one who built the Temple, but He used David to set an example for the people of Israel to give as the Lord led them.
I am certain that nearly everyone here is facing difficult decisions with their finances.
We are facing the same thing. Increasing costs for food and gas; this year begins 8 years of college expenses for our family.
How can we sacrifice amid all of that?
Now, as the pastor here, I want you to know that Laura and I and our family will never ask you to sacrifice if we are not willing to sacrifice as well.
As David revealed his giving, he did it to set an example for the people.
I am going to do the same thing as it will take all of us, as the body of Christ, sacrificing greatly, not just giving a token gift, to accomplish what we believe the Lord is leading us to.
In the midst of what we are facing, we have decided to give an additional $8000 over the next 2 years over and above our regular offerings.
Now it is not like we have an extra $8000 lying around.
How can we do that? How can we commit this amount over and above our normal giving?
We came up with that by committing $1250 out of this tax return we just received as well as next years. That is $2500.
But while giving that is good, it isn’t really sacrifice for us. It doesn’t really require that we change how we live.
So we decided that we would commit to sacrificing an additional $50 every week over and above our regular tithe to help pave the way.
If we do that for 2 years (52 weeks x 2 years=104 weeks), that equals $5200.
Now giving $50 more each week is going to require some adjustments.
To help come up with that, we just changed our phone and internet service to save $35 per month.
The rest is going to have to come from spending less and or making more.
Laura has signed up to be a secret shopper. She will get $10 when she goes to a store that is doing a sampling demonstration and takes some pictures of the person doing it and writes a little report.
Other ways
I spoke with Joy Kelley who is going to be having a yard sale and she is going to use those proceeds to help pave the way.
For some of you it will be eliminating a $5 Starbucks once a week or eating out once a month. If you could come up with $10 per week, you could commit $1000 to this campaign. ($10 per week x 104 weeks)
Now for some that would be a truly significant sacrifice.
For others here, you might be able to give $25,000 right now without sacrificing. To that, I would say give until it is sacrifice. Give until it requires you to change what you do.
That is the kind of giving that will glorify the Lord.
Commitment cards
Inside your bulletins is a commitment card. We are asking you to take that home and be praying about how the Lord wants you to sacrifice.
There are eternity’s that are depending on us to respond to the Lord’s leading.
On our Celebration Sunday, 2 weeks from today, we are asking that each of you who call Hickory Creek your home, come back with this commitment after having prayed and talked about it and bring a first fruits offering, whatever the Lord is leading you to give now and a commitment to what He is leading you to commit to sacrifice over the next 2 years so we can continue to fulfill the Great Commission.
For me, I would indicate on this form, $1250 now, $50 per week, another $1250 yearly and $300 some other way for a total of $8000.
Do not include on this form, what you regularly give, only what you are committing to over and above your regular giving.
And then when you give, write in the memo “building” or “paving the way” so we can know to designate it for that.
We are not looking for everyone to give equally. Some can give more and others will give less. What we are looking for is everyone to sacrifice equally together as the body of Christ.
Now I say as David did, “who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?’(1 Chronicles 29:5)
Worship team come up
I am going to ask the worship team to come back up and we are going to close in worship as we sing “The Stand” and worship the One true God, the “One who gave it all” for us.
The chorus of the song goes
I’ll stand With arms high and heart abandoned In awe of the one who gave it all
I’ll stand My soul Lord to you surrendered All I am is yours
Worship Him this morning by surrendering yourself completely to Him.
Let’s sing.
