Set It Aside

Personal Preferences and Priorities

I want to do a little check here. Everybody raise their left hand. Okay, now everybody raise their right hand. Good, everybody knows their right and their left - and I promise I’m not judging you if you have to make the ‘L’ with your left hand to remember. Now the trick is going to be me remembering that your right is my left and your left is my right, since I’m facing you. What I’m going to do is give you a few pairs of things that I could potentially spend money on, and from what you know of me I want you to raise your hand for what you think I’m more likely to spend money on. Sound good?

First, do you think I’m more likely to spend money on an autographed baseball bat or a game worn soccer jersey? Raise your right hand for the bat and your left hand for the jersey. Right, I’m probably going for the soccer jersey.

Next, do you think I’m more likely to spend money on groceries or on lottery tickets? Raise your right hand for the groceries and your left hand for the lotto ticket. Right, I’m probably going for the groceries?

What about right hand for knitting needles and left hand for weightlifting gloves? Trick question, neither, weightlifting gloves are for wimps and I don’t know how to knit. Right hand for NFT’s and left hand for gas? I’m filling my gas tank. Right hand for golf clubs and left hand for video games? 10 out of 10 times I will be buying video games over golf clubs.

Now, most of you were right in your guesses. So how do you know? How can you guess so accurately how I hypothetically spend my money? Well, part of it is because you know what I enjoy right? If you know I prefer soccer to baseball, I prefer weightlifting to knitting, and I prefer video games to golf - you can safely guess what I’ll spend money on. Another part of it is that you know my priorities. You know being able to eat is more important to me than playing the lotto and gas for the car is more important than NFT’s. So how I spend my money is reflective of my preferences and my priorities.

The Budget - Like Looking in a Mirror

I mean, do you choose to spend money on things you hate? Do you spend money on less important things before you spend money on more important things? I’m thinking the answer to both of those questions is going to be a “no.”

And I think that is just a reality for us as people right? I mean, if someone consistently dumps money into a hobby, we assume that they enjoy that hobby, right? We see how people spend their money and it tells us something about what they like and what their priorities are right? Why do we spend money? We spend money because we need things or because we want something or because we want to support whatever the money is going to.

Why do you pay your rent or your mortgage? Why do you pay your power bill? Why do you pay for groceries? Because you need a place to live, you need electricity, you need food.

Why do you pay for Netflix - why does someone whose password you know pay for Netflix? Why do you pay for golf lessons? Why do you pay for season tickets? Because you want to watch certain shows, you want to play golf, you want to enjoy a whole bunch of hockey games.

Why do you buy Girl Scout cookies? Because you want to support the organization. Why do you buy a jersey? Because you want to show your support for the organization?

Why would you give to the church?

God’s Gracious Gifts

The Bible gives us a bunch of direction when it comes to why we give to the church.

In our earlier reading from Mark 10, Jesus tells the right young man to “sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” So on one level, we give to the church and we give to those in need because that’s what we’re supposed to do. Jesus calls us to give what we have to the cause of ministry. So on one level, we give to the church because we need to.

Another perspective comes from Mark 12:17 where

Mark 12:17 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

And this is an interesting verse, because we are told to render to God the things that are God’s. Just stop and think about that for a second. Everything is God’s. Everything you have, your house, your car, your job, your bank account, your food, your kids, your family, everything is a gift from God. And He is happy to give it to you. And the love and forgiveness He gives you is unconditional. Jesus died and rose for you, and you don’t have to do anything or give anything to earn it. But as we reflect on everything God has given to us, there is a natural desire to respond. So we give back to Him with our praise on Sunday morning, with our actions every day, with our time in devotion, and with our finances. So on another level, we give to the church because we want to.

And finally, in our text for today, Paul is directing the Corinthians to gather up a gift for the church in Jerusalem that had fallen on hard times, the church that couldn’t support itself. And that’s a simple reality, the church needs some level of financial footing to do ministry. Just look at Edgewater, this facility costs money, taking care of Chris and me costs money, doing ministry costs money. So on another level, we give to the church to support the organization, to support the ministry of the Gospel in the community.

These are different reasons to give to the church, but notice what I didn’t mention. I didn’t mention anything to the effect of “we give so that we don’t go to hell.” I want to be painstakingly clear here, your giving has nothing to do with your salvation. I am not compelling you to give money to Edgewater. Someone who never gives anything to the church will be ministered to just as much as someone who gives thousands of dollars a month. Jesus will not love you or forgive you any less because you don’t give. There is no carrot, there is no stick - I am not compelling you to give, but your conscience might be.

Put Something Aside

So Paul in this text tries to give the Corinthians some practical strategies for how to go about giving. He suggests that on the first day of the week to “put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.” Now that last part, the “as he may prosper,” kinda means something along the lines of “as he is able” or “according to his means.” You’ll notice what Paul doesn’t do, he doesn’t put down a number. He doesn’t say, “each of you should put aside 10% for this offering.” And today, there are a ton of different ways that people calculate their tithe - their ten percent.

Some people just take ten percent of every paycheck, it makes the math really easy. You get paid, move the decimal over one place and you get your tithe.

Some people take ten percent after taxes, it makes the math significantly less easy. The Faithlife app actually has a calculator where you can put in your income and the percent you want to give and it’ll tell you want the dollar amount is after taxes.

Some people give a flat amount. They give five or fifty or five hundred dollars every month.

Some people give a portion of extra money they get - gifts, bonuses, stimulus checks - and some don’t.

And there is nothing wrong with any of these ways to give, they are all different ways that people regularly put aside money to give to the church. As Christians, we are not bound to a certain amount or a certain percentage. We are called to give what we can, and to think seriously about what we can give.

And maybe you don’t have a habit of giving right now, Paul gives some good advice here to start. He says put something aside every week. So if you don’t give, maybe start with just 1% or just 5$ - something to get you in the habit of giving or something to get you started with recurring giving with the app or website.

We

Because we are called to give. We’re called to give to support the community of the church, to support the ministry that the church does, and to respond to all that Christ has done for us.

But it is worth reiterating that your giving does not impact your salvation, it does not impact the community’s responsibility to minister to you. Jesus wasn’t on the cross thinking about how much you would give in response, He cares about you, He loves you freely. And we are called into a community that builds up and supports one another in all different life situations. When you struggle, your brothers and sisters in Christ will stand beside you and pray for you. When doubts and questions are in your mind, the church is here as a tool of the Holy Spirit to support your faith. And as we work together to support and build this community that supports each one of us, we can change our community. We can reach out and connect people to a faith that saves, to our God who loves us and loves them, to a savior who died and rose again to save us from death and hell, to a community of believers that will walk through the highs and lows of life together. God is doing incredible things at Edgewater, of that I have no doubt, and we stand in total confidence that He will provide for His people and for His church. Amen.