It's About Me
(Week 4)
A Stewardship Development Tool
Pastor Ken Hepner, Chambersburg BIC
Introduction
1. As we turn our focus to the Word of the Lord this morning we are concluding our series of messages entitled “What’s It All About?” We have been asking and answering the questions that all of us ask ourselves when the lights are out and no one else is around. What is life really all about? Is it about amassing things for me, my spouse, and our descendents? Is living for the here and now all there is to it? Is this really all there is to life?
--We noted that to answer that question well requires that we ask and answer a much bigger and more important series of questions. Who is God? What is He like? What does He want from me?
2. In the message of week 1 we looked at the truth that life is really all about Commitment to Knowing God personally. All of us need to reconnect with God through a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We noted that there is no verse in the Bible that says we can be partially committed to knowing and following Jesus. He simply asks that we be wholehearted in our devotion to knowing Him.
3. In the message of week 2 in the study we examined the theme of living Life on Purpose. We saw the central truth that the purpose questions of life must begin with God who willed our existence. Real contentment in life, having a happy heart, is the result of learning what it means to Chase what God Chases! We asked an important question for the past two weeks, I am asking all of us to ask God right now in prayer today:
“Lord Jesus, what are you going to do today to advance your kingdom purposes, that you would like me to join you in doing?”
4. Last week in our study for week 3, we looked at what it means to live life in God’s Provisions. The issue we addressed last week was to invite you to join me in thinking through the truth regarding what or whom we really trust in life. As Christians – people who have decided we will follow Jesus, who will walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, not after fleshy pursuits – we all have to make constant choices to turn away from the cheap and temporary riches of our human provisions for life and embrace the true riches God provides for us.
--We ended up last week with three great principles of life as taught by Jesus:
- Sell Off – because ultimately the more we accumulate the more time, energy, and concern it eats up.
- Give Away – because the best antidote to creeping materialism in my heart is to give to bless others.
- Treasure True Treasure – because our hearts always follow where we invest God’s money.
5. Today we are studying one more theme in the series of messages on what life is really all about. Our theme today is that the Lord asks all of us to embrace a generous Giving Lifestyle. The title to the message is: “It’s All About Me.”
--The title is a bit misleading perhaps, because as it relates to our Christian life, it really isn’t about me, it’s about Jesus. Coming into a personal relationship with God, experiencing forgiveness of sins, being set free from sin’s power to rule me, and spiritual adoption by the Father God it’s not about me. There is nothing I could ever do to make myself acceptable to God. It is totally about what Jesus has done for me.
--But as it relates to managing the resources God has entrusted to us, for His honor in life, it really is all about me. I am the one who is responsible to make quality Kingdom-Based Choices in my heart relative to what I give away and how I use what I get to keep.
6. In our culture the value is “Big is good.” If big is good then “bigger must be better.” If you have a bigger vehicle or house you are far better off, unless you’re not to crazy about its fuel consumption.
7. In the parable before us in our study today, we are going to be confronted with the values of the kingdom of Jesus as set against our culture. We are going to see that bigger isn’t necessarily better. The call Jesus places before us today is to consider the question; “How much is enough?”
I. The Context of the Parable
Jesus told us a parable that gets at the mentality behind bigger is better. Some of the teachings of Jesus are pretty hard to get a handle on, to understand the depths of what He was saying. This isn’t one of those times. He is direct and to the point. He couched it in the sharp and to the heart words of Luke 12:15: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
He is responding to a person in the crowd who has just asked him to serve as an arbiter between him and his brother regarding their dad’s will. Jesus responds in a way that just focuses the attention of everyone right on the issue.
1. The mentality behind bigger is better is Greed. Greed is the excessive, inordinate desire for just a little bit more, then more, than still more.
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed…” All kinds of greed.
Greed is subtle. It shows up in clever disguises – not only in obvious ways, but also in unexpected ways and places. It shows up not only in others, but also in…you…or me. It shows up in anxiety, worry, covetousness, and in stinginess. “I don’t want all that much Lord. I just want a little bit more.”
Why do we go to malls? The answer is one that we don’t like very much: Greed. We go there to get our consumerist juices flowing, to arouse our acquisition fantasies. If I can just acquire this I will be happy.
A sure sign that greed lurks in our hearts is that wanting things outruns our having them. When the upward pursuit ends not in peace, contentment, and inner joy but in exhaustion, disappointment and emptiness, we have misplaced our hearts. We have focused on the wrong kingdom.
2. The Biblical teaching on Money has several dimensions to it.
1.) Money is not evil. It can be used to do an incredible amount of good in this world. What is evil is inordinate and excessive desire for money. Paul told Timothy; “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
2.) There is a dark side to money.
One part of that teaching says that there is a dark side to money. It is not a neutral commodity. It has a power that is demonic in character. It takes on the nature of a god. It can weaken or destroy your relationship with the true God. So the Bible gives many warnings about the evil that money can do.
3. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his Possessions.
This statement by Jesus flies in the face of our culture. In our culture of malls with hundreds of stores we call ourselves the land of opportunity. But is that really what material prosperity represents? Is it opportunity for happiness or a sinful distraction to the wellbeing of the soul?
Richard Foster, a Quaker writer and renewal leader, says that an important thing for North American Christians to do is to look at the global picture and stop denying that we are wealthy.
If you own a car, you are in the world’s upper class.
If you own a home, you are richer than 95 percent of all the people on this planet.
If you own a book, you are wealthy. If you have a library of several books, you are extremely wealthy.
Foster observes: “It is only as we admit our wealth and quit trying to run from it that we are in a position to conquer it and use it for God’s good purposes.” (Money, Sex and Power, p. 33)
II. Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better
“And he told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
1. What drives the bigger is better mentality is the presence of Self-Interest. Self-interest lives in all of us. It is at the core of our humanity. It is also the essence of the sinful nature. This man represents a typical human being, with his “self” at the core of his life and his decision-making. The issue wasn’t that having a bumper crop was wrong or that a bigger barn is wrong. The issue was his heart focused on himself. His first thought wasn’t how can I bless God? Or even, how can I help others?
--It was “Dude, I have it made, and it is now party time!”
2. This man represents what I see as a huge issue for North Americans – Compartmentalizing our Lives
(slide one COMPARTMENTALIZED LIFE)
3. With my self on the throne of my heart what looks like a life I am in control of really looks more like this.
(slide two SELF IN THE CENTER)
4. With God on the throne of my heart – His Desires affect all of my Decisions I make in life, about every part of my life.
(slide three HEART OF GOD – remove one piece)
III. Giving to Bless Others Changes My Vested Interest
Luke 12:20, 21 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your live will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with everyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Jesus counsels us, with a negative illustration, regarding how we can make ourselves rich toward God. Later in this same passage, Jesus gave the counsel we studied last week, which comes at this from the exact same perspective. We are able to change the focus of our vested interests. It is a matter of embracing a generous and giving heart. In the passage we just read Jesus says a person is a fool who is not rich toward God. In the passage to follow He says we are to provide better purses for ourselves than something that holds money.
Luke 12:32 – 34 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”
1. His counsel to us is toReprioritize the way we view things and the time we spend on the material world in order to be able to give a Higher Priority to the things that God Values. The message to the rich young ruler was not a model to be absolutely and legalistically adhered to. It was a picture to him of his heart’s unwillingness to follow after Jesus with his whole life. But let’s remember a key kingdom ethic: The more we have the more time and energy it takes to care for it.
Ecclesiastes 5:10, 11 “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?”
2. His counsel to us is to Give Away, which is a tremendous pathway to inner contentment, to having a happy heart. To have a giving lifestyle is a joyful and consistent surrender of my will to God’s will for my life. The best antidote to a mentality of self-interest is to give away something that I think I can’t do without!
Proverbs 11:24, 25 “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
3. His counsel is to Treasure what is God Treasures, or said another way to put God’s money, which I manage for Him, where God’s heart is. Embracing a giving heart doesn’t strip me of vested interests in bettering my life. Giving to the kingdom of God transfers my vested interests from the earthly realm to the heavenly realms. Through cheerful generosity I find the deep joy of partnering with God, leading me to better myself! True treasure doesn’t rust or corrode. True treasure lasts forever!
IV. Giving To Our Local Church
It is so easy to think lofty thoughts, to think how nice it would be to have more of a heart for God, to have more of a heart for God’s kingdom, to have more of a heart for World Missions. Jesus said don’t just think about it, give something you have been entrusted with toward it and your heart will follow your gift. One way to cultivate generosity and to work together with your brothers and sisters, is giving we do together in the local church.
When we cooperate to give together in our local church, we work with a unified budget to support the Lord’s work. That budget is established each year in a process of ministry leaders submitting requests, a team of people handles the requests, the Church Board approves the requests to be brought to Church Council meeting – what we call our annual business meeting – and the church family approves the budgeted expenses.
For every $100.00 Raina and I give to the church we know there is an established way it will be expended (in rounded numbers to equal $100.00):
$42.00 will go to pay for staff salaries, housing allowances, and benefits
$33.00 will go to pay for office, maintenance of our facility, insurances, utilities, debt reduction, and building projects like our parking lot
$6.00 will go to support ministries beyond ourselves, to things such as Gospel Tide, Salvation Army, Pregnancy Ministries, Maranatha Ministries Operation Concern, Bible Release Time, etc.
$6.00 will go to pay for Christian education ministries in our church, Sunday School and club programs
$13.00 will go to support our denominational ministries through Cooperative Ministries
--When that $13.00 goes to Cooperative Ministries it is disbursed:
35% or $4.55 goes to Board for World Missions.
51% or $6.63 goes to care for our General Conference leaders, Communications programs, Regional Conference Bishops, to begin new church plantings, and sustaining healthy churches.
14% or $1.82 goes to leadership development, new pastors, core courses, funds to enable and help existing leaders.
In eight days, Monday night March 6th, we will cooperate together to have some fun and raise some funds in our annual Building Fund Auction. The dinner hour begins at 4:30 PM and the bidding starts at 5:30 PM. It is really important to come on Sunday night to “Talent Night” and to pay careful attention to whose fiancé or whose child made what item so you can bid that item up on them!
In addition to our budget, we have annual missions conference, which is just one month from today, March 26th with John and Kathy Brubaker as our speakers. One of the goals for that conference is to receive a $20,000.00 offering to be sent directly to Brethren in Christ World Mission for use in the advance of the kingdom of God globally.
Our church family has traditionally supported an incredible amount of short-term missions projects annually. Our teens go to two different work environments to invest time and energy in making the lives of others better. In the process of giving to others our teens find their hearts made softer and their lives made better too. Last year alone we raised money to send a team to Spain and sent our Jr Hi kids to TIMS work camp and our Sr Hi kids to Chambersburg Project.
If Materialism is the Poison the Antidote is Giving!
I Timothy 6:17 – 19 “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 for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
--Generous
--Willing to Share
--Rich in Good Deeds
