[MONEY-Tense Topic, but important]
When I was asked to preach today for Stewardship Sunday I wasn’t sure whether I should feel honored—or very afraid. Who knows? Perhaps today’s recessional will feel like a walk through the gauntlet for me!
What is it about this topic of giving that sets us on edge? Perhaps we raise our guards and put our system on high alert because we’re about to go into another session where our pastor or vestry will make yet another attempt to separate me from more of my money.
Without question the topic of money is important. In most cultures; perhaps in our American society, in particular, money represents power. We make statements with how we spend our money. We can make our voices heard with our money. We reveal who we really are with our money.
Whether we have a surplus of funds or we’re wondering about how we’re going to make it to the end of the month; our life seems to revolve around money.
So here we are in church, just minding our own business, trying to get closer to God and now we have to survive another sermon on stewardship and giving our money away.
I’d like to give you permission to take a deep breath and relax for this particular sermon. Even from the title you ought to garner a bit of relief. I truly believe that God teaches us that Stewardship is not about giving—it’s really all about trust.
[Illustration of Father Calling and Child Resisting]
Last week I had an inspiring encounter with my daughter that I’d like to share with you. You may be able to relate to this, especially if you’ve ever been a parent, or a teacher, or if you’ve ever had significant encounters with children.
One afternoon my 2-½ year old daughter woke up early from a nap. She had been suffering with a fever, so my wife and I knew that she really needed more sleep. So, wanting to give my wife a little relief I offered to get our daughter back down for the remainder of her nap.
After several minutes of cuddling and gentle encouragements, it became evident that she was committed to fighting off sleep with everything she had. Several minutes later my gentle urgings firmed up a bit as I began her very specific directives. “Honey. You must finish your nap. Daddy and mommy love you. You haven’t been feeling well. You’ve got to sleep some more.”
She soon realized I wasn’t going away and started to fuss even more and squirm. I just held on to her steadily and firmly as she fought against my embrace. I continued to reassure her, and waited patiently for her obedience.
She then moved into negotiation mode. “I need mommy. I’m ready to go to my bed. I’m done crying. Give me my feet back.” She even threw in an, ‘I’m sorry’ for good measure. All the while resisting my hold and wanted to get away.
Her she was fighting off what was best for her, because somewhere in her little head, she was convinced that she knew better than daddy. I encouraged her to ask Jesus to help her obey and take a nap, and then listened with a little surprise as she said, “Jesus, please help me obey daddy.”
Within ten seconds she surrendered her will and stopped squirming, within another ten seconds she was peacefully asleep in the arms of her loving father who knew she needed more rest.
As she slept in my arms I thought what a great picture it was of how we interact with our heavenly father.
[God Calls]
God calls us to follow him, which requires obedience and trust, especially when we’re called to follow him into uncertainty. He knows what’s best for us, even if we don’t see it at the moment. The unknown can be a career move, a financial commitment, a family decision, or so many other life issues. When the outcome is uncertain, we naturally become afraid and instinctively our guards go up.
Fear takes many shapes and is not unique to anyone of us.
[Fear]
In America, the top three fears have been noted as: The fear of flying, the fear of failure and the fear of the unknown.
Fear drives us to control the ‘known’ parts of our lives. We don’t like change because it’s unpredictable. We’re comfortable with our current resources, and have things so well planned out and organized that we leave little margin for error. But in doing so, we leave no margin for obedience when we sense God calling us to something out of the ordinary. If we can’t see around the corner, we’d rather not go there.
Fear drives us to Control
[Compare | Contrast God’s Call w/ Our Resistance]
God calls us to follow in any number of areas in our lives and we resist
I think I know what’s best
God has my best in mind
I insist
God waits
I fight
God is patient
I think I’m strong
Father is so much stronger, he’s firm, relentless
I negotiate
Father God has heard it all
I tell him what I’ve done
He wants simple obedience
Then when I think I’ve conceded, I tell him I’m done fighting, I’m sorry and I’m ready to move on and do what he says; all the while I’m still clinging and squirming and trying to control my environment.
[TRUST and SURRENDER]
It’s easy to look at this as a cute little analogy about a father and his 2 year old, but as adults we’re convinced that the stakes feel so much higher in our relationship with God. When, in reality, the two are really quite similar.
Our challenge is to fully and completely trust God.
We place things on the altar, and tell God we give it to him; our troubles, our concerns, our money. But then we keep our hand on it. We grip onto it tightly because we’re just not sure if we can trust him with it.
It’s a matter of trust. Do we trust God to take care of us and of our daily needs? Will HE really provide our daily bread or do I have to insure that I’ll have my daily bread for today, tomorrow, next month, my retirement and even for my grandchildren.
We need to concede to God.
Giving in to him.
Surrender.
When we do surrender we can rest in the strong, able arms of our loving Father.
My daughter looked so peaceful and at rest in the arms of her loving father. As a father I knew she needed a nap. I wanted to provide what was best for her, but she thought she knew better. When she finally conceded and surrendered to the will of her father, she was able to rest peacefully and enjoy the fruits of her obedience. Which in her case was a rested body and a less cranky afternoon.
If Fear drives us to Resist and Control, then Trust compels us to Obey.
[God’s Love]
Listen. God LOVES us. He’s our father. He has our best interest in mind. If we ask Father God for bread, will he give us a stone?
It is his love for us that compels us to love him and to live and share his love with the world. On the cross Jesus lived out the ultimate act of love made for all of humankind. And every Sunday we have a potent reminder of this wondrous miracle.
At the altar, a holy exchange takes place. I kneel before God bringing my worst; my struggling, needy life to him and in exchange he gives me the life giving power of his body and blood.
Do you remember that song, “Oh Sally, do you love Jesus? Oh, yes. I love Jesus. Tell me why you love Jesus. This is why I love Jesus. Because he first loved me.”
Ponder in your heart the weightiness of his First Love for you. When we realize the implications of that love, it’s so much easier for us to Love and Trust him!
[Stewardship]
One of the ways God extends his love to us is in providing for our needs. Do you recognize that everything you have is NOT yours, but God’s that he has given you?
At the Offertory we say, “All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee”:
Stewardship is really NOT about giving at all.
The term stewardship refers to taking care of what belongs to someone else.
How are we doing in taking care of God’s stuff?
Our recent Gospel lessons have mentioned God as a vineyard owner. Giving over his vineyards to tenants to take care of His vineyard.
You also recall the parable of the talents. How are we going to invest and manage what God’s? What he has given us to manage.
All that we have comes from him in the first place. It’s HIS, we’re just caretakers.
When we talk of Stewardship we usually hear that it’s appropriate and expected to give 10% of our income to God through the work of the church.
But then the questions come up, whether it’s 10% of gross or net. Where does the percentage go? What happens when I don’t have enough? What if I’m on a fixed income? What if I’m not sure from where my next check is coming?
Friends, stewardship is so much more than giving 10%. It’s actually 100%.
God has given us everything. Are we grateful and generous enough to give back to him and trust him to continue providing for everything we need?
[Benefits|God’s Provision]
When we read in Scripture about giving God our first fruits, or about a tithe. Or when we read about stewardship of God’s resources, or how we’re going to invest what God has given us we must realize that It’s MORE ABOUT US then it is about Jesus needing our money.
It’s about the attitude of our heart.
Giving is an exercise for OUR Benefit, to remind US who we are, and who God is. To remind us where the money came from in the first place.
When we relinquish our hold on our money, time and resources and we FREELY give, the way we’ve FREELY RECEIVED; when we concede our grip on what we can control and TRUST in a God who truly loves us, ONLY THEN can we be guided by his capable hands, and be rest in his strong, loving arms.
When you come to the altar today, surrender your will to your loving Father, and like my daughter you can move ahead in your life refreshed, having received the blessing of obedience to your Father in Heaven—who Loves You. Amen
