Hear an audio version of this sermon by clicking here
Sermon for October 6, 2024
Stewardship Sunday
Luke 12:22-23, 31-34; Deut. 26:1-2; 2 Cor. 8:11b-14; 9:6-8, 10
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Sometimes people ask me, why are there four gospels when there’s only one Jesus? It’s a good question. I like to explain it using the analogy of a football game. Let’s say you went home last Sunday to watch the Packers play the Vikings. How many different perspectives can you use to describe the game? You could talk about the quarterbacks and how well or poorly they played. You could talk about the kickers and how many field goals and extra points they made or missed. You could talk about the referees and whether they seemed to favor one team or the other. You could talk about the coaches and whether they made good decisions. Or you could talk about the fans and the kind of atmosphere they created in the stadium. Whichever way you tell it, it’s the same game. But none of these descriptions by themselves tell the whole story. And the details you focus on, and the order you put those details in, depends on your perspective—and this is similar to the four gospels. Yet even though you can tell the one story of Jesus in different ways, the gospel of John describes the goal of it all: “these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing you may have life in his name.”
When we think of stewardship, each of us also describe it from different perspectives. Some might say stewardship is about funding the church’s annual budget and day to day expenses. Someone else might say it’s about planning for longer-term capital projects. Another might emphasize how stewardship makes it possible to accomplish the mission and ministries God has given us. Like the different ways you can tell story of a football game, each way someone talks about stewardship is one piece of the puzzle for the effect that stewardship makes. Yet none of those perspectives, by themselves, tells the whole story. And when we look at the bible as a whole, an even bigger picture of stewardship comes into view, and at the very center of that picture is Jesus. As the bible describes it, stewardship is meant to be a way of life for God’s people, and the goal of stewardship as a way of life is to grow in your relationship with Jesus.
There’s a great little book about stewardship called Ask, Thank, Tell by Rev. Charles Lane. In it, he describes some basic values that the bible provides as guidance for making stewardship into a way of life. The first value is to be “Intentional”. St. Paul wrote a lot about stewardship in his letters, including this in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “a farmer who plants a few seeds will get a small crop. A farmer who plants generously will get a bountiful crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give.” Like a farmer planning how much seed to plant, we each make intentional decisions to prepare for the future. So, “to be intentional means to make up your mind, [then] develop a plan, [and then] turn that plan into action (Lane, p.46).”
The best way to begin planning is with prayer—having a conversation with God. And then, depending on your life circumstances, the next step is having a conversation with your family. As is often the case when making plans, it helps to write them down, so you can more easily remember and reflect on the plans you’ve made. This is one reason why our stewardship committee provides pledge cards each year, to help each of us be intentional about prayerfully making plans for our estimate of giving in the coming year.
The second value is to establish a “Regular Pattern”. In Deuteronomy we get to hear Moses instructing the Israelites about this as they prepare to make their home in the Promised Land: “You are to take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest…and you shall put it in a basket” to give as part of your worship of the Lord. They were about to transition from being hunter/gatherers in the wilderness to being farmers. This means their main source of income would come once a year at harvest time—so that became their pattern for giving—to give when they received their income. Most Americans today receive income on a very different schedule than ancient Israel. So for us today, a “regular pattern” means “whenever you receive income (Lane, p.48)”.
The third value is probably the most essential: “Being Generous”. Without generosity, stewardship wouldn’t be possible. In Luke 12:34 Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Now, it’s a common tendency for us to hear this verse and slightly re-arrange the order, so it becomes “where your heart is, there your treasure will be also”—but we need to recognize that’s not what Jesus says. He says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” The place where we put our treasure, our money, our resources—that’s the place where our hearts will follow. When we put our treasure with Jesus and the things that give him honor, he promises to bring our hearts closer to him. He’s talking about “acting your way into a new way of thinking” instead of “thinking your way into a new way of acting.” (Lane p.54-55)
St. Paul also recognizes the importance of generosity, when he writes (2 Cor. 9:8) “God will generously provide all you need.” God’s awesome generosity is the basis for us to be generous as a response to his great gifts. We can be generous because you cannot out-give God, who provides us with all we need. (Lane p.49)
The next value is “First Fruits Giving”. Look again at what Moses taught: “you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground” to return in thanks and praise to the Lord. This one is pretty straight forward. Give to God first, and live off the rest. Allow God to put the first portion of your resources to work for the purposes of his kingdom, and God will help you use the remaining part wisely. (Lane p.50)
After that comes the value of “Percentage Giving”. The bible never tells a specific amount to give, but instead as St. Paul puts it (2 Cor. 8:11-12), “Give in proportion to what you have, not what you don’t have.” This means that a gift that is “small” by worldly standards may actually be incredibly large by God’s standards. A poor widow giving $5 is making a sacrifice far greater than a multi-millionaire who gives $50,000 (Lane p.50-51). The bible also famously teaches giving a “tithe” (meaning, ten percent) as the goal of proportional giving. And it doesn’t all have to be given to church; the 10% includes other ministries, charities, really anything that honor’s God and God’s purposes in the world. It’s also not a rigid rule; it comes back to your life situation. Sometimes you might be able to give more than 10%. Other times you might need to give less. If you’ve never tried tithing before, you might make a plan to start at 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 percent and then increase a percentage each year. Or you might simply decide to start tithing. Something to pray about!
Finally, we come to the value of “Cheerfulness”. In the words of St. Paul (in 2 Corinthians 9:7), “don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure, ‘for God loves a cheerful giver’”. Now, this does not mean that if you don’t give cheerfully then God doesn’t love you. Of course God loves you—that’s why Jesus gave himself on the cross, or was raised again for you and for the sake of the whole world! Remember, St. Paul doesn’t say these words—that God loves a cheerful giver—in isolation, but in the context of the other 5 values (Lane p.53). And I think you’ll find, if you talk to Christians who have put the first 5 values of biblical stewardship into practice, as a way of life—Intentional, Regular, Generous, First Fruits, and Proportional—then giving cheerfully begins to come naturally. And they enjoy giving of their resources; and they enjoy growing closer to Jesus; and they enjoy seeing the ways God uses our offerings to accomplish the mission and ministry God has given us; and they enjoy experiencing all the ways that Christ is at work giving us life in his name. Amen.