Next Sunday is Stewardship Commitment Sunday. You and I recently received pledge cards from our Finance and Stewardship Committee, and they are asking us to make a commitment about what we will give in the year 2015. There will be a time set aside in next Sunday’s service for those of us who want to do so to bring our cards forward and place them on the Lord’s Table. If you prefer, you may also mail in your card, place it in the offering plate, or bring it by. We’ll take it any way we can get it.
I personally hope that everyone will pledge. Even if you have never filled out a card before, I encourage you to make a pledge of some amount. It could even be a dollar a week. Now, of course, that’s for those of you who have not pledged before. For the rest of us, we ought to pledge for 2015 to give at least what we are giving this year and, if possible, to raise our pledge.
At the beginning of this year, our Session approved a budget deficit of some 70,000 dollars. At the current moment, we are 81,000 dollars in the red. So, you can see, we need to step it up in the year ahead if we are not to lose ground.
This passage from Philippians is not, of course, a traditional stewardship text, but I think we can apply it to the practice of giving. This is especially true when comes to how we think about money and giving and such. Because that’s what this passage is about. It’s about how we think. It’s about what we let go on in our minds.
Paul says, “Do not worry about anything” (v. 6). And, of course, “anything” would include money, wouldn’t it? So what if we rephrased Paul’s words to say something like, “Do not worry about anything, including money”? Or, what if we just said, “Do not worry about money”?
Tall order, right? I’m afraid I have to confess to you that I probably worry about money more than anything else. As Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, I worry about the fact that we’re 81,000 dollars in the hole. I worry about what it means. I worry about what it says about how our people feel about the church.
Some years ago, Ed Draper was moderator of our Finance and Stewardship Committee, and he said something to the committee that I have never forgotten. He said, “Money never follows need; it always follows vision.” I think that’s true. I think that, if I were to get up here and tell you that we have an aging building and we need you to help us fund its maintenance and repairs – that would be true. Right? It is true. But it’s not very motivating.
Likewise, if I were to tell you that expenses are greater year to year – the cost of insurance and utilities and that sort of thing – it would be true. You know that. I don’t have to tell you. You live with these realities every day. If the church’s bills are going up, I’m sure yours are, too. So, while it’s true, it doesn’t inspire any of us to give.
I could go on an on like this. It’s all things you need to know, because you have a stake in this church, just as much as I do. But just knowing these things doesn’t make us want to give.
Now, on the other hand, if I were to tell you that we’re going to be a church that trusts God for what we need…. If I were to tell you that, as a congregation, we’re going to follow Paul’s instructions here in Philippians 4, where he says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God….” If I were to tell you that we are not going to worry about money but, instead, we are going to trust God for every outcome, two things would happen.
First, this church would model for you the kind of faith that it counsels you to have. You see, if you were overtaken by worry about anything – money, family, your future, whatever – I would have you turn right here to Philippians 4 and urge you not to let worry have the upper hand. Instead, I would tell you, trust God for what you need. I would suggest that you pray – that you give thanks to God for all his blessings and, then, that you lay out for him all your needs. Do you have a child who has turned away from you? I can only imagine how painful that is. Have you been given an unwelcome diagnosis by your doctor? I can’t think of anything that might throw you off balance quite like that. Are you in a job search and there just don’t seem to be any opportunities that fit what you’re looking for? That can make you feel unsettled about your future and your ability to earn what you need for you and your family to live. I can see how that might affect you.
But, of all the things I might tell you, I would never tell you that you had better get busy worrying. I would never say to you that you’re on your own and that you can expect no help from God. Quite the contrary, I would commend to you the avenue of prayer. I would say to you, as Paul does here, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything” – in the particular thing that has you by the throat – “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
We endorse prayer here. In fact, we implore you to pray and then to trust God for his providence. And, if we’re doing the same thing, we model for you how we should all deal with the worrisome aspects of living.
There’s a second thing that would happen if we as church leaders were to refuse to give in to anxiety and, instead, to pray and trust God. Not only would the church’s leaders be an example for how you ought to deal with worry, we would also be demonstrating to God our intention to trust him for our future.
Whatever our future holds – however uncertain it may seem – there is one thing we can be sure of. We know that God will use our circumstances to accomplish in and through us what he plans to do. We tend to think we need to be big or maybe even bigger to be effective. And maybe God will give to us the blessing of growth, but, if he doesn’t, he may show us that effective ministry doesn’t depend on size. It never does. It always depends on him.
It’s this sort of spiritual emphasis – I think – that motivates people to give in support of a church. If we’re just an institution, if we’re no more than a collective of like-minded people entertaining each other, then, no. Nobody wants to give to support that. But if we’re a body of people looking to God, leaning on God, exalting God – and it’s clear that God has a purpose for us to be together – that motivates me.
When Paul says, beginning in verse 8, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” You know what I think Paul is talking about there? I don’t think he’s talking about soft kittens and warm puppies or anything else in the created order that is pleasant to our senses. I think he is talking about the One who is true, the One who is honorable, the One who is just and pure and pleasing and commendable. I think he is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Song of Songs we read that he is “the fairest of ten thousand” (5:10) and that he is “altogether lovely,” and in the Book of Revelation we read that he is “the bright and morning star” (22:16).
He is the One on whom our minds should be trained. He is the One in whom we find excellence, and he is the One who is truly “worthy of praise.” If we keep our attention focused on him and what he wants for our church, we can move into the year ahead with confidence.
And we will know the peace of God, of which Paul speaks here in Philippians 4:7. “The peace of God,” he says, “which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
If, in verse 7, Paul speaks of “the peace of God,” in verse 9, he speaks of “the God of peace.” And Paul says that he will be with us.
That’s the kind of church I want to support. Isn’t that true for you? I want to give my time and my substance to the church that can assure us that the peace of God will keep us and that can say that the God of peace will be with us. If God’s in it, I want to be in it. I want to be all in.
When you think about it the way Paul tells us to think about it – when you mind your thoughts – we don’t have anything to worry about. I hope you will bring your completed pledge card next Sunday and join me in making a financial commitment to this church – to God’s church. Or if you’d rather, mail it in or bring it by or put in the offering plate. However you plan to do it, do it. And trust God for the outcome.
