Stewardship - More than Enough
Notes
Transcript
Handout
6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” 10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
Image of the Farmer
To get crops he must generously scatter seed
The farmer knows that not ALL seeds will sprout and produce a full crop - however, the farmer is generous knowing that SOME will.
The farmer would be remiss if he scattered only a little seed. There is an understanding that only a certain percentage will sprout. So, if you want more crops you must sow more seed. It’s as simple as that.
Stated another way, the less seed the farmer sows, the less crops he will have.
Some may think, “Well DUH Pastor that’s just common sense!” But, is it really?
Sure, this makes sense in farming, but what about the rest of life. How are we stewards of our resources in those areas? Are we using them liberally knowing that the more they are used the more return we will receive, or are we sowing a little bit expecting to get a HUGE return?
You see, Paul quickly turns from the agricultural picture to the picture of money to highlight his point. Just as the farmer sows liberally, so also the resources God has given individuals should also be used liberally.
Paul is NOT talking about being wasteful, but at the same time he is urging a grateful response to God’s gifts that do not hoard God’s blessings from the world.
Paul is urging the individuals of the church in Corinth to be generous in a their finances according to promises they have already made. But, the image of generosity goes beyond finances.
Generosity stems from our understanding of stewardship
Stewardship recognizes that ALL our resources came from God and are loaned to us.
13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
Ultimately, all our resources are God’s. We are entrusted to use them, and to use them well.
But, it goes beyond the idea of ONLY money! It includes ALL that God has provided for us - including money. Often how we view money determines how we view the rest of our resources...
Remember
10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
It is not that money and resources are bad. But, we must remember that our attitude towards money, and therefore towards all our resources, is highly influential in the priorities that guide our lives.
Paul reminds the church that their resources are from God and Paul’s thought is that those resources are LOANED to us to be sown liberally into our world.
And, there is the continual reminder that God - as long as we are using our resources to sow His goodness into our world - will provide for our needs.
8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
But, let’s be honest - this response from God comes after we have agreed to give cheerfully to our world based upon what God has already given to us.
In other words, Paul does not say “Hoard the goodness God has given you and hold tightly to the money and resources God has blessed you with. Then God will provide for you.”
No! Paul is saying, “After you have generously given from the great resources God has provided step back and see how God continues to provide for your needs.”
But, it doesn’t stop there. God GENEROUSLY provides our needs so that we can continue to be GENEROUS in continuing to give and sow into the lives of others!
10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
God doesn’t invite us to test Him very often. But, God’s test to us is that if we are GENEROUS in our giving, if we are GENEROUS in how we use our resources, then God will continue to be GENEROUS with us.
Really, our question should NEVER be about how much we can get, it should be about how much we can GIVE. And, as we GIVE of our time, talent, and treasure God will be GENEROUS to GIVE us more so that we can GIVE more!
So, the question could be… what happens if we are NOT generous? What happens if we are not generous with our finances, or time, or abilities etc…?
Well, I don’t really know.
But, what I do know is that God has promised all that we need if we ARE generous and cheerful in how and why we give!
I am not sure I want to know what the results are of NOT being generous!
Many in the church have a POVERTY mentality not a SUFFICIENCY mentality.
Poverty mentality focuses on what little we have and what we need to do to keep our little bit secure.
Poverty mentality causes us to say things like...
“We don’t have much money in the bank” or “Yeah, we have great resources in the bank, BUT, we used to not and we want to make sure we always have enough - so don’t spend too much.” OR, “Well, we have a lot, and our needs are great, so let’s hold on to what we have and let it grow until we prioritize...”
But, it’s beyond money… how about these phrases...
“If only we had more volunteers...”
“Pastor, I have served my time and I am tired.”
“Gosh Pastor, I would participate, but when I get off work I just don’t have the energy.”
“I used to help, but someone changed everything and I just can’t do it anymore.”
let me be clear - I am not saying you should be abused with your time and resources. But, poverty mentality focuses on a perceived deficit.
But, there is another mentality that is encouraged by Scripture - the mentality of sufficiency.
This mentality says that God has, and will continue, to provide for our needs (time, rest, talent, resources, finances) as we continue to be GENEROUS with what God has granted. After all, these resources flow from God’s hand anyway - they aren’t ours.
Prayer from Dr. Rowell that God would expand our time...
This mentality does not focus on the perceived deficit but instead focuses on the storehouses of God’s treasure. This mentality is not concerned with what is not present, but uses what is present to move toward what will be supplied. This is the mentality that scatters seeds of time, resources, finances, and the like LIBERALLY all over the place knowing that there will be a great return on that investment.
Instead of saying “We don’t have enough” this mentality says, “Look at ALL the potential for what we do have!!”
This mentality is not only a symptom individuals have. It is a symptoms that organizations, including the church, often has!
Often, organizations are plagued with limited resources, staffing, volunteers, etc...
Many times, it is easy to look at the “down side” and say, “We would love to _____, but we just don’t have enough money” (or people, or space, etc…)
The big one lately has been “Well, since COVID...”
This mentality keeps us from reaching goals and accepting new challenges to reach new people!
Our church has 3 Wildly Important Goals that our Church Board discussed last February
Building updates and making space more available for reaching community needs
Be a church for young families and a place where young families want to be
Make a plan to move pastor and family out of the current parsonage.
Often, poverty mentality would say, “We don’t have enough money, or space, or people to do that.”
So, we need to ditch the POVERTY MENTALITY and ACCEPT A MENTALITY OF SUFFICIENCY
This mentality says that God has ALREADY provided EVERYTHING we need to reach these goals.
God has provided YOU and YOU are what is needed to reach these goals.
This is the Season of Thankfulness
Often we look at what we have and wish that it was more
This happens in churches and organizations too
But, Paul reminds us that God has granted us everything we need
This realization SHOULD encourage our ability to give generously to others as we KNOW that God will CONTINUE to grant everything we need!
So, this Season, let us focus on what God HAS ALREADY granted to us! And, may that make us generous. Generous in giving of our time. Generous in giving of our talents. Generous in giving of our treasure. Generous in giving of all of our resources. Because God has been good - WE GIVE!
