Cheerful Living, Cheerful Giving

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

19th Sunday after Pentecost ~ October 7, 2007

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Stewardship – that is the theme of October as it has been tradition for us for some time. This year we are using the Consecrated Stewards program from LCEF. Through this program we are recognizing the various ministries of this congregation, we are using Bible studies the help us see God’s view of Stewardship and we will be inviting you to pledge how you want to give to the Lord and His church.

Last week we focused on sharing Jesus Christ as part of our stewardship. We are to be salt and light to the world and bring the treasure of the Gospel to everyone. The take home Bible study challenged us to think of one person who isn’t connected with Christ and pray for them one minute each day. Did you take that challenge? I know each of us probably know of at least one person that we can pray for – being good stewards of the treasure God has given us in Christ.

Today we are going to focus on Cheerful giving as Paul stated in our text, “for God loves a cheerful giver.” Giving – that is usually the focus of stewardship and a good one. What are we going to give to God’s church for the furthering of His kingdom? We tell our children around Christmas that it is better to give than to receive. Our text even focuses on giving. But I want to refocus our attention today to where I think we should begin as we consider stewardship.

But I believe that we need to begin with the idea of receiving before we can truly “get” the concept of giving. Starting with the idea of receiving focuses us on the fact that everything we have is a gift from God. That is a profound statement that deserves our meditation and full attention.

When we start from a giving standpoint in stewardship of giving we can easily fall into the trap that we are giving of what is ours. We think we have earned our money, built-up our resources and now we give to the Lord because it is a good sacrifice from my stuff. But that is incorrect. We don’t own a single thing. Even our very lives are not our own. We need to begin with the idea of receiving – all that we have we have received from God.

A good image for this idea is the image of a trustee. A trustee has an important task, a big job, of taking care of someone else’s estate. They are asked to use the resources of another person to accomplish what has been mandated by the trust. A trustee does all the “work” of managing what is not his or her own. That is what we need to realize in this world. We are trustees of God’s resources and of God’s greatest treasure – Jesus Christ.

That can change our whole perspective in life. When we begin with giving then we think more in the terms of a CEO – what is going to be good for my “bottom-line”. “If I give to the church I will give when it suits my purposes. I will give when I know that I will get something out of it. It is my money; I should use it to gain the best for me.” And what happens most often with that attitude – we keep our resources for ourselves. But the attitude that we have received everything from God and are now trustees opens up a new way of giving. We are called by God to use all that we have to give glory and honor to Him. That includes the church but also so much more.

In stewardship we have the idea of a tithe or giving of 10%. That is a good guide, but again it has to be seen in the right light – is it 10% of what I own or is it 10% or God’s resources for the specific ministry of the church in which God has called me? See the difference? If we have the focus that it is our stuff then we tend to say 10% is a lot of what we own. But if we see it as God’s resources then we see it as part of the way we manage God’s trust to us. Fascinating that we give more to our waiters and waitresses (15, 18 even 20%) then we do to the church.

What I am saying is that it is not about the percentage but on how we manage what God has entrusted to us. And that encompasses our whole lives. In a book I was reading taking about stewardship it mentioned a couple that I think got this concept of trustee right. They had been truly blessed monetarily in their life and had made wise decision with their resources. When they got to retirement age they realized that they had much more than they needed to live comfortably. So they decided to do a reverse tithe – they kept 10% and gave away 90%! Wow, what a blessing for that couple. Now I am not saying this to get more out of you for church, but more for you to see that it really isn’t about percentages but about how we view and use God’s resources. Most of us will never get to a point in our life that we can give away 90% and that is ok. We need to see that every aspect of our lives is a gift from God to be managed for His glory. If we need 90% to support our family that is great – God gave us our family to manage responsibly.

When we begin with the attitude of receiving – that all we have, job, home, family, things, our very life – is a gift from God then it changes how we use and manage our resources. In out take home Bible study for this week there is a neat way of helping us view our blessings from God. Take some Post-it notes and use them for one week to record the blessing you see in your life. In the morning you may thank God for a warm bed, clothes to wear, cereal for breakfast, a car to take you to work or school, etc. Write each one of these on a Post-it note and place it someplace you will see them. (Thanks God for the Post-it notes too – what did we do to remind ourselves of things before these sticky notes?) Put them on the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, car dash (don’t put them on your windshield) or anywhere you will see them and add to them. I imagine that by the end of one week you will have a very large display of God’s blessings in your life. And this will remind you that you have received everything from God.

You are a trustee of God’s riches blessing to be used for His glory. The greatest gift being His Son who came and took all your sins away and has given to you new life and salvation. That is a treasure beyond all measure and one in which we don’t own but are a trustee. God has given us all to give Him glory and to further His kingdom. Trustees of God, be faithful with what you have been given and give glory to God with all your resources. Amen.