Deuteronomy 15:1-11
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Howard W. Roberts
Glenview Community Church
September 16, 2007
           
This week we received a letter and pledge form from the Stewardship Board.  They are asking us prayerfully to consider our responsibility as stewards and to communicate with them by October 15th our pledges to the ministry of Glenview Community Church.  The Stewardship Board requested that I deliver a sermon on stewardship today.  This is an important issue in our lives, one that Jesus talked about often. 
           
Much of our energy is spent struggling between two deep-seated instincts:  to get and to give.  This is no recent development.  The Bible gives much space to one's relationship to the material world.  This is evidence that stewardship is a struggle and one with important consequences.   Actually, Jesus spent more time dealing with how people dealt with their possessions than any other single topic except the kingdom of God.
           
George Paulson, one of our Confirmands, told me this story after worship one Sunday last fall.  A one dollar bill and a twenty dollar bill were talking.  The dollar bill asked the twenty dollar bill where he had been.  The twenty dollar bill excitingly said, “I’ve been everywhere.  I’ve been to fancy restaurants, nice country clubs, and great night clubs.”  The dollar bill looked sad and the twenty said to him, “Where have you been?”  The dollar bill replied, “I’ve been to church, the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church.”
           
IIn an office in Philadelphia is an oil painting of a lawyer.  The painting portrays a handsome man in a three piece pinstripe suit with a yellow silk tie and matching handkerchief.  The lawyer is standing with one hand in his pocket.  One person observing the painting said, "That cannot be a lawyer.  If it were the picture of a lawyer he would have his hand in someone else's pocket."  Obviously, that person made the mistake of stereotyping lawyers, an erroneous and unfair assessment.    
           
But the story can help us.  If God painted your portrait, where would your hand be?  Would it be in your pocket?  Would it be in someone else's pocket?  Would your hand be open and extended, communicating that what is yours is to be shared with others?
           
Stewardship has gotten a bad reputation in the church because it has become associated with fund-raising, but stewardship really means being responsible for what has been placed in one's charge.  There is a sense in which every worship service is a variation on the theme of stewardship because to worship God is to acknowledge our accountability to God for our lives.  Dean Clifford, a member of a congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina offers this helpful insight.  "The call to stewardship is not a matter of formulas, but of a relationship that radically alters all of life's transactions.  It is a call to joint participation in the ongoing work of redemption."  
           
What we need is to take the stew out of stewardship.  Much of the stew in stewardship is caused by the competing urges within us, the urge to get and the urge to give.  As these vie for priority, we experience ourselves stewing over it all.  We get the stew out of stewardship when we make the discovery that all of life is a gift from God.  David Redding has spoken the truth for us when he said, "Every gift I have been given would make a good present for someone else."  The great stream of giftedness flows into me apart from my deserving and is meant to flow through me to others.  When I refuse to let this process occur, refuse to pass on the giftedness, the whole balance of things is upset, and I am in a stew. 
           
Actually, discovering the need to permit the giftedness from God to flow on to others is how tithing got started.  It was a tremendous turning point in history when people discovered that they could plant seed and nurture harvest and were not totally dependent on what they found growing wild.  But then came the difficult lesson to be learned--some of the bounty of this year's harvest must be saved back and "given" to next year's crop, or there would be no "next year's crop."  If everything that is raised today is consumed today, there will be no bounty tomorrow.  This is how tithing got started.  Take any segment of life you choose.  If you extract everything out and do not invest anything back, the process will soon wither and die.  When there is no willingness to let some of what you have been given flow on through you to others, famine and drought are sure to result.  What is true of all things historically is true of us as a congregation.  If those of us who live out of the life of this congregation are blessed by God through this congregation and what it gives us do not give some of that back, the congregation will be weakened, suffer famine and drought.  Those of us who are feasting on the bounty of what this congregation provides must be willing to invest back a portion of "seed" for the future. 
           
Is it not true that our receiving is in proportion to the attitude of our giving?  A chicken and a pig were walking down a country lane.  They stopped outside a little white church to read a notice advertising a bazaar in support of the church's program.  At the bottom of the sign they read:  "Ham and eggs will be served."  The chicken said to the pig, "See!  Even you and I can help the work of the church."  "Yes," replied the pig, "that's easy for you to say, because it only calls for a contribution from you.  It requires a total commitment from me!"  Stewardship requires total commitment from us. 
          
Getting the stew out of stewardship requires that our giving be reflective rather than reflexive.  We are creatures of habit.  We learn to react to a given stimulus.  We become conditioned to do something a certain way and we react predictably each time the stimulus occurs.  At the ballpark, the pitcher adjusts his cap before each pitch.  In basketball, a player bounces the ball seven times before he shoots a free throw.  In church, the offering plate is passed and many people give what they have been giving for years.  This is reflex giving.  It is unrelated to the giftedness that has flowed to the person.  Reflex giving gives no thought to Jesus' instruction about giving in proportion to what one has received. 
           
God's arithmetic is strange.  God uses a calculator based not on amounts but on attitudes--not on quantity but on quality.  God considers not only the sum that we give, but also the share that we give.  Reflective giving is better than reflexive giving because reflective giving develops the attitude of giving on the basis of the giftedness one has received.
           
Getting the stew out of stewardship requires that we be clear about the means and ends of life.  We get ourselves in a real stew when we exchange the means of life for the end of life.         
           
John Claypool, a respected Episcopal priest, told about hearing of a boy who lived in a rural area and at age twelve had not seen a circus.  One day a poster went up at school announcing that Ringling Brothers circus was coming to a nearby town the following Saturday.  The boy was so excited he could hardly wait to get home and share the good news.  Yet, he had to ask the inevitable question, "Dad, can I go?"  The family was poor and did not have money for this kind of thing, but the father sensed the importance of the circus to his son, so he said, "Okay, if you get your Saturday chores done ahead of time, I'll see that you have the money to go to the circus."  The boy was up early Saturday and finished his chores long before noon.  He father reached into his overall pocket, pulled out a dollar, and gave it to the boy.  Immediately the boy was on his way to town.  As he got to the edge of the town, crowds lined the street.  He worked his way through the crowd until he could see--there was a circus parade!  He saw the clowns, the caged animals, and the acrobats.  Bringing up the rear was an old clown with floppy pants, droopy eyes, a rubber nose, and oversized shoes.  As he came near the boy, the boy reached in his pocket, pulled out his dollar, gave it to the clown, and headed for home.  What had happened?  The boy thought he had seen the circus when he had seen only the parade.
          
  Many of us make this same mistake.  We take the precious dollars of our lives and give them to material objects as if they were the final treasure, when that is only the parade.  We confuse the means by which we live with the ends for which we life.  Such confusion puts us in a stew.
           
All of life is constructed on a rhythm of give and take.  It's as simple as breathing.  You cannot hold your breath forever.  If you take in oxygen but refuse to give back carbon dioxide, you will die in a matter of minutes.  The only way to save your life in that situation is by losing it, investing it in the ongoing process. 
           
The process of church, like all the processes of life, is a delicate balance of give and take, getting and giving.  Each of us came today desiring and intending to take something with us from church:  a sense of God's presence and grace, a feeling of love and acceptance by some of God's people, a new insight into what it means to be a child of God and a disciple of Christ.  I trust you also came today desiring and intending to give to the church, to give of yourself and to give a portion of the possessions with which God has entrusted you.  Jesus calls us to our highest creativity and fulfillment by making giving rather than getting primary in our living.
           
I I suspect you received some things today that you just take for granted.  When you arrived, the building was clean and comfortable, ready for your use.  As you entered the sanctuary, you came into a beautifully remodeled room designed to help you worship God.  You were given a bulletin, neatly designed, typed, and printed.  Gary played a meaningful prelude to aid our preparation for worship.  You used a hymnal provided as a worship aid.  The choir sang an anthem, the music and leadership for which were provided by the church.  During the week you received through the post office or via email a copy of the Broadcaster.  Were you to be injured while you are here, we have insurance to help pay medical expenses.  It costs $3300 per day to keep this congregation ministering and functioning at our current commitment level.  Nobody is giving the equivalent of $3300 per day to Glenview Community Church.  In that sense, all of us are receiving more from the church than we are giving.
           
We need to do what Paul challenged the members of the Corinthian Church to do.  He urged them, "On with it, then, and finish the job!  Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it and do it with what you have now."  What an encouraging, straightforward word this was to the Corinthian church!  The best time for them to complete what they had started was right then.  Paul went on to say that now while they had plenty was the time to be generous.  The rule of reciprocity would be set in motion, meaning that at a time when they came to be in need there would be those who would be encouraged to be generous to them because of their generosity now.  Isn't this true for us?  We have benefited from the generosity of people through the years who have supported Glenview Community Church.  Now is our opportunity to build on what they have done and to do for others in kind what has been done for us.  I have the privilege and the responsibility to build on the fine ministry of Bob Edgar, Ken Nye, Bob Alward, and Doug Runnels.  That is part of my stewardship responsibility.  Because they were good stewards as your senior ministers has helped take a lot of the stew out of the stewardship of being your senior minister.
           
Now, I am urging you to take your stewardship to a higher level of commitment.  Our budget for 2008 will be in the vicinity of $1,300,000.  During 2007 we have had 526 giving units pledging and contributing financially to the ministry of Glenview Community Church.  We have more than 300 members who do not pledge although some of them may contribute in some other way.  What if at least one third of those not pledging pledged for 2008.  That would give us 626 giving units that pledge.  A giving unit represents all the people living in the same household who contribute to the church.  If each giving unit will contribute $2076 in 2008, we will reach our ministry needs.  If each giving unit will give $173 per month, our receipts will exceed $1,300,000.  I’m trying to help us to see how really possible this is.  Some think using this statistic is risky.  They are fearful that those who have been giving more will conclude they are doing more than their part and reduce what they have been giving.  Such an attitude is highly unlikely.  People who are being generous generally are motivated by an attitude of gratitude.  Generous people usually respond with more generosity.  I once heard a lawyer who dealt almost exclusively with wills, trusts, and bequeaths say that he had never had to offer legal counsel and advice to a generous person. 
           
On the other hand, some of our members won't be able to contribute $173 per month.  Exactly right.  Some of our members may have severe financial difficulty and be unable to contribute anything financially.  Exactly right.  A similar situation existed in the church at Corinth at the time Paul wrote them.  His word to them was, ". . . your abundance at the present time should supply their want, so that their abundance may supply your want, that there may be equality" (2 Cor. 8:14).  Some giving units can contribute much more than $2076, and we should.  We have talked it over at our house and we are going to do our share and enough to help eight additional giving units in our congregation to give their share.  We have experienced God's generosity and we want to respond generously.  There may be a time in the future when circumstances beyond our control prohibit us from being able to be this generous.  At that time we will have to rely on the generosity of those who are able to help with our share.  However, for this next year we want to do our part and more because we have been blessed by God's love and grace and by the care and love and warmth of God expressed through this congregation.  I just want you to see how possible this really is for us when we band together as a congregation and pledge our support to the ministry of Glenview Community Church.
           

What can your contribution do for Glenview Community Church?  It expresses your commitment and interest in the well-being and ministry of this congregation.  You may agree with everything that happens here.  I doubt that.  You may disagree with everything that happens here.  I doubt that.  But I have noticed in the time I have been here and I have heard through the oral tradition of this congregation that whether you agree or not, when your children are born, when your family members are sick, when your children marry, when relatives die, when relationships are suffering, when prayer is needed, when Bible study is desired, when friendship is wanted, you call on this congregation to have those needs met.  The reason many of these needs can be met is because people who have preceded us invested what they could not keep forever in what they could not lose forever.  Many of these needs can be met now because many of you provide financial resources that can be turned into all kinds of assistance: study materials, staff leadership, attractive, inviting facilities that encourage worship and study.  We are benefiting from and building on what has been done by those who preceded us in this place. And through our diligent financial stewardship, we can provide for those who come after us and make sure there is an ongoing established ministry on which they can build.  By so doing we are providing for those who come after us.  That takes the stew out of stewardship for me.  I hope it does for you as well.