ARISE: Stewardship

Scripture

1 Timothy 6:17–19 NIV

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Pray.

Introduction

Who in your life has taught you generosity?

For me it was my dad. It was small and subtle, but he would bring dollar bills for each kid and we would get to put it in the offering plate every week.

Friends, today I am not trying to preach some banging sermon so that you decide to give to the church. I do hope you will consider filling out an estimate of giving, but that is not my goal. My goal today is to talk about stewardship, a part of our discipleship and calling as Christians.

Here Paul is giving closing remarks and teachings to his disciple, Timothy. Earlier he has encouraged those that do not have wealth to not obsess over this sort of thing. To have contentment. Now he turns to those that do have means and gives them instruction about their Christian identity.

Paul describes in depth two dangers for those that have financial means…

false pride (looking down on those that are less fortunate)

false security (trusting in the gift instead of the giver)

So he has two responses....

The commandment from Paul here really comes down to a couple of imperatives:

Hope in God

Do Good

Hope in God

First, the commandment from Paul to Timothy is to command those who are rich in this present world to not be arrogant and/or put their hope in their wealth. But instead to put their hope in God.

Paul here starts with identity and motivation. He begins in this place with purpose.

What gets you up in the morning?

What is it that keeps you going?

What is it that give you what you need to look into our world and feel a little better?

If it is money, success, wealth, then it is uncertain. I think there might be many of us that have experienced that this year even or at least the threat of it.

Notice here that Paul does not condemn the wealth....he does not say, even, sell everything, but he says you cannot depend on it.

This is a discipleship message.

We put our hope in a lot of things and for some of us the threat is wealth. And this does not have to be about having a ridiculous amount of it.

Premarital counseling conversation:

Money as status

Money as entertainment

Money as security

Money as power

I can’t tell you how often very broke young people end up finding that they have raised up financial stability to a place it shouldn’t be.

When we were first married, I remember seasons where we really struggled with this money is security. I always felt like I was one wrong tragedy away from my family being in trouble because of what was in the bank account. Even now as we have grown to a better place in that regard, I can be controlled by it...

I think Jesus and the NT talks about money so often because of the power it has over us. James K.A. Smith:

“Your deepest desire,” he observes, “is the one manifested by your daily life and habits.” This is because our action—our doing—bubbles up from our loves, which, as we’ve observed, are habits we’ve acquired through the practices we’re immersed in. That means the formation of my loves and desires can be happening “under the hood” of consciousness. I might be learning to love a telos that I’m not even aware of and that nonetheless governs my life in unconscious ways.” ― James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

Church, do not put your hope in wealth....put your hope in the God who rescued you.

And that God....? This verse says he wants to provide us with joy.

Do Good

The second command here is to do good, to be rich in good deeds. If your hope is in God and God is your source of purpose, then do good.....live generous lives with your wealth.

I am convinced that to live lives that are not generous is to actually lack hope in God.

Those people that have been set free by God, have come to a place of knowing that they are loved by the creator of the world. To know that Jesus Christ so loved the world, no, so loved you that he laid down his life, that my friends is an assurance that beckons us to love others.

This has always been a reality for the Jewish faith. From the beginning of their covenant with Yahweh there are these laws to love orphan, widow, the marginalized and the poor. This kind of though is not shocking but what comes next is....

1 Timothy 6:19 NIV

In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Paul says, to do that is actually to begin laying a foundation of heaven. To begin living like heaven is a reality, because for those in Christ, it is a reality now.

This is why Jesus is so radical. The only way that you can live this way, or that you can love your enemies, or that you can sacrifice everything, is if you are walking in the reality of heaven.

FMC:

Since I got here I have seen this kind of generosity on full display:

Give examples….…

Gathering place

ID ministry

Watch some of you answer huge callings like prison ministry, foster care, pregnancy center

When there is a funeral service here, I have not witnessed such hospitality and care for the grieving

Community assistance center

Compassion united

Countless volunteers: 35 leaders in children’s ministry, for example

2022 was a difficult year in many ways and at the end of that year you stepped up financially that blew me away.

120,000 given in 30 days to support The Woodlands Hills campus start up needs

And I could go on and on. This is the work of living in the reality of heaven.

But there is more to do. The reality is, there is darkness in the land.

As you know, Lauren and I live in The Woodlands Hills where the new campus will be. Last summer, there was a little girl that drowned and barely survived. She was a neighbor of ours. In one afternoon we put out the call for prayer and 100 people came to the park in front of our house.

Afterwards a woman came up to me and said “you prayed like you were talking to God. I don’t know what that is like.”

There is a lot you can learn at a park with kids. Everyday we hear of some crisis in a home. Marriages struggling, young mom’s trying to breathe without community or family support.

The narrative of the world that everything is going to be alright, we can control things, we can elect the right people into office, we can organize our own lives for thriving, we can control the wealth and success of our families, it is failing.

Isaiah 60… there is darkness in the land…

But the glory of the Lord is rising.

Stats:

Giving at FMC:

About 600 household units

260 estimate of giving cards last year

23% increase in our budget in 2024

ARISE:

Budget for 2024 = $2,458,250

86 people = $504,770

12 first time pledges

I am grateful for what God is already stirring up

Tithe:

As your pastor, you will not hear me gawk about the tithe, but you will hear me talk about discipleship.

Methodist give less than 2% of their income total

Let’s say a word about the tithe. This is where I am at. We need not make the tithe what it was never intended to be.

The tithe in the law of the OT was about teaching God’s people a practice that pointed to an intended heart attitude.

Trusting God and his abundance

first fruits

witness to the world

Jesus mentions the tithe, but he does something interesting. He raises the bar as he usually does:

Matthew 23:23–24 NIV

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

In another words, the tithe is a good thing....but it was always about justice, mercy, faithfulness.

I am much more concerned with getting you close to Jesus, have you following him. Generosity comes from there because he is the epitome of generosity and sacrifice.

Now, I also believe the tithe is a good practice.

1. Because it teaches generosity and trains my family to be trustworthy of God.

2. It is our part of participating in what God wants to do.

I want to challenge us today:

If you are not giving to the church, let’s start somewhere

If you are giving what you can, can you start proportional giving. Prayerfully coming up with a plan about first fruits and make a commitment to God and to your church?

If you are further in this, can you grow that?

Next week we will worship together, celebrate together, and consecrate this work together. We will have the opportunity to bring our estimate of giving forward and prayerfully commit our lives to ARISE.

Closing....

Yes we are inviting you to invest in this work of the church. But we are actually doing more than that. We are extending the invitation to join in this work. To help us, together, hope in God, and do good. To bring the reality of heaven to people that are living in darkness