I Love My Church
Stewardship
CCCAG March 17h, 2019
Scripture- Philippians 4:10-19
Intro:
“Spring time in the Coulee Region”
It's been a pretty eventful winter hasn't? Everybody so anxious for spring to get here we started to see some of it this week.
This last week we lost over 75% of our snowfall and a lot of the talk around town is who's basement is flooded. On the fire Department we spend some time filling sandbags and scooping out ditches so that the water could flow down to the River and save a few houses.
I've had several people tell me that they see in a few robins coming in in some of the migratory birds coming back into the area.
On Thursday the temperature was in the mid-50s so we were able to turn off the furnace and open up the house and get all that stale winter air out. It’s one of my favorite times of year we can finally open a window.
Spring has another thing that it is well known for particularly the date April 15th. What happens on April 15th?
Taxes
Tammie and I just submitted our tax return last week. One of the most interesting things that I look at on our tax return is how much charitable giving we did over the course of the last year. I always want to try and give a little more each year so it’s a good time to look and consider how we are managing the finances that God has given us to steward.
Stewardship is a critical aspect to how we live our lives before God. Sometimes the word stewardship can bring up emotions within us because every time stewardship is spoken about in church, it always seems to come back to how much we give in the offering each Sunday.
That’s unfortunate, because God’s mandate to us to be a good steward is not so much about giving, as it is the direction of our worship.
We worship what we value, and that is why stewardship is so important because what we give our attention to the most is what we really value in life.
Stewardship, if we were to define it, simply means to order your life in such a way that it shows everyone where your heart is really focused. Repeat. It’s part of your public witness of who you worship.
The Apostle Paul had somethings to say on this subject, so lets read them in
Phillipians 4:10-19 NIV
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
Continuing our series on I Love My Church, today we will be talking about Loving our Church through our Stewardship.
Why is this idea of stewardship important to our series about loving our church?
As we established a few moments ago, Stewardship, means to order your life in such a way that it shows everyone where your heart is really focused.
The everyone in that statement are the people who you worship with in your church, and the world around you including your family, your neighbors, your friends, and your community. That’s why this idea of stewardship, or how you order your life around the things of God is so important.
The first reason why this is important is because
I. Our Stewardship reveals our heart (vs 10)
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
One of the things that blessed the Apostle Paul about the Philippian church is that he knew how much they all loved him and his ministry. He knew that they would pray for him, he knew that they would be there for him, and they knew that they would support him in any way they could. That support could come in material goods
It could come in making a commitment to sending people to help him in the ministry,
or it could come financially.
Paul wasn’t so much blessed by the fact they were rich and could do this- in fact they were not. The Philippian church had a few wealthy people in it, but for the most part the people in that church were very poor and could barely support themselves. Yet out of their poverty, they gave.
A father might not be able to spare his son at harvest, but he willingly sent him to help Paul.
A widow might have just finished weaving a blanket for a grandchild, but she would send it instead to help Paul in the mission’s field.
Perhaps there was a skilled craftsman in the church, and he would fashion things for sale and give the money toward Paul’s mission.
All these people used what God had given them, time, talent, or treasure to see God’s Kingdom expand and flourish.
It’s not about how much you can give, it’s the heart behind it.
Jesus is very concerned about this in our lives because it’s an indication of where our heart really is pointed. (Pharisees started plotting when he drove out moneychangers- when he touched their pocketbook)
In fact, often in the temple he would sit near the offering chest just to see how people would give.
Mark 12:41 Then Jesus sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 44 For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”
It’s easy to read these bible accounts and not really personalize it, so I want you to stop and think about this for a moment. Imagine you are walking into church. Your bank account has zero in it, and all you have is $20 in your wallet until next Friday. That’s it. No gas money, no money for food, no way to pay your rent. A missionary is visiting that Sunday, and at the end of service we take up a special offering to help them get into their mission’s field.
When the offering plate comes around, you feel the Holy Spirit tell you to put that $20 in the offering plate.
Do you trust God at that point?
The answer tells you the direction of your worship, and that will determine your stewardship.
That brings us to our next point-
II. Stewardship starts with contentment (Vs 12-13)
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Christians the world over will quote that last verse and ignore the previous ones. We want the strength of God but ignore the price. The price is contentment. It means you will have joy and be at peace no matter what happens.
Illustration-
There is a story of an ambitious young man who sought out his pastor for advice and prayer for his new career. He told his pastor that if God would bless him that he would give 10% of his income. They both prayed together for God’s blessing on him. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. God blessed him in incredible ways, and in a few years his income increased, and he was tithing $500.00 per week.
He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don’t see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you’d have no problem tithing $4.00."
When we put our hope in the things of this world, we wind up like this young man. Stewardship is not just about money, but about everything in our lives.
We wonder why young people are falling away from the church when we let them participate in sports on Sunday morning- showing them what is really important to us.
Tammie and I were in the Sunflower last week and as I looked around, every couple or even every family I saw they all were staring at their phone screens instead of talking to their loved ones.
Stewardship of time, stewardship of attention, and stewardship of what is important in our lives is just as important, if not more important than the stewardship of our finances.
I once worked with a guy who was even more busy than I was. He was in full time college, had a young family, and work 2 full time jobs. I asked him when he had time to spend with his family and he said that's his wife's job. He said it partially in jest but in reality, that is exactly what he was focused on- things that made him happy and his family was there to come along for the ride. He was failing in his stewardship toward his family, and they eventually paid the price when his wife left him.
I am going to show my nerd side for a moment.
Does anybody remember the movie from the 80s called The Karate Kid?
Just to refresh Memory that's about a boy named Daniel who moves across the country with his mother to California where he runs into some guys in his school that are into a very aggressive form of martial arts and these guys are the biggest bullies in the school. The movie shows how Daniel becomes friends with an Okinawan handyman in his apartment building named Mr. Miyagi who teaches Daniel authentic Okinawan style karate.
A few years ago they redid the movie accept Mr. Miyagi character was replaced with Jackie Chan. In this version of the movie he's teaching a young boy who was just moved to China from America the art of Kung Fu. Jackie Chan has a statement in that movie in which he says Kung Fu is not just about fighting , it's not just about defending yourself. Kung Fu is about how we treat others, Kung Fu is about how we treat ourselves. Everything is Kung Fu.
It's amazing to me how a man who is not a Christian can summarize the Christian faith in such a poignant way. Christianity is not just about church attendance. Christianity is not just about how much you give. Christianity isn't even how you treat others or how you treat yourselves.
If you are a Christian, then everything is about Jesus.
The expression of your faith is the practical outworking we call stewardship .
How are we ordering our lives to give the most glory to the one who gave it all to be with us?
I think one of the problems we have with being proper stewards of time, talent or treasure is that we think that what we give in these three areas just disappears.
Paul had a different opinion-
III. Credited to Your Account
Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.
The bible tells us that nothing we do for the LORD will ever be in vain. God sees it. God is keeping track of it, and God is faithful to reward that which was done for HIM.
God is a good steward.
Matt 19 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
God is crediting an account for you. In it will be everything you stewarded to increase His kingdom.
And that brings us back to the central thrust of this series- about I Love My Church.
Loving your church will be seen in how you steward your time
Loving your church will be seen in our you steward your talent
Loving your church will be seen in how you steward your finances, not just for the financial health of this church, but for how God will use it to further His kingdom. (young man and tithing)
Altar Call
