8:1 – And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
2 – Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
3 – For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
4 – they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
5 – And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God?s will.
6 – So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
7 – But just as you excel in everything?in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us?see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
9:6 – Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 – Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 – And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Last week the Green Bay Packers won the Super-bowl?but there was a time in this team?s history when things weren?t going anywhere near this well. You?ve probably heard the story that comes from this period in their history because it has become legendary?even in non-football circles?but just in case, here goes.
In the late 1950’s the Packers were indeed doing very poorly. In fact they had been losing for almost ten straight years. They were at the bottom of the standings, and morale was sagging. Then, on February 2, 1959, at age 45, Vince Lombardi accepted the position of head coach and general manager. The year prior to his coming the Packers had their worse season ever. They lost all but 2 of their 12 games and one of those ?wins? was a tie. Well, Lombardi was charged with the challenge of turning this franchise around, and he gave it his all. He created punishing training regimens and expected absolute dedication and effort from his players. But in the beginning things didn?t go well and at one point in a practice, he got so frustrated that he blew the whistle and said,?Everybody stop and gather around.? Then he knelt down, picked up the pigskin, and said, ?Let?s go back and start at the beginning. THIS IS A FOOTBALL. These are the yard markers. I?m the coach. You are the players.? Then, he went on, in the most elementary of ways, to explain the basics of football.
And his ?back to the basics? strategy worked. The 1959 Packers were an immediate improvement, finishing the season with a record of 7 wins and 5 losses. On top of that Lombardi was named ?Coach of the Year.? The next year Green Bay won the NFL Western Conference for the first time since 1944, resulting in the Green Bay community giving Lombardi the nickname the Pope. Lombardi led the Packers to the 1960 NFL Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles and the rest is history.
I share this story to underscore a very important life principle and here it is: every now and then, it?s important to stop and go back to basics and that?s what I?d like to do this morning when it comes to the spiritual discipline of stewardship. You see, for the last few years giving at Redland has not been what it was in prior years. In fact, last year, for the first time that I can remember, we spent more than we took in. Usually we end the year with a sizable surplus when we compare the year?s actual expenses with giving?but not last year. Don?t worry?we had plenty of savings so no bills went unpaid and no staff members were laid off. But nevertheless last year our budget expenditures were $6,000 more than our tithes and offerings. We spent that much more than we took in.
Now?I know times are hard. The economy is in bad shape. Costs are rising and people are out of work in our world?but we are not the world. We are the church! We are the body of Christ…we have a different CEO than the world. So in light of our giving decline I felt?as did the members of the Stewardship committee?that instead of just giving you another budget to vote on as we?ve done in past decades, it would be good for us to stop what we are doing and go back to the basics, hence the title of my message: ?This is a Budget.? That?s why when you came in this morning you were handed a copy of the 2011 budget along with your worship bulletin.
Now…I know this is an uncomfortable subject. No one likes it when the pastor talks about money. In fact, I hesitated to publish the title of my subject in THE SOWER for fear that people would just choose to stay home rather than hear a message on this subject. Part of the reason many of us feel this way is because we don?t think the way we handle our money is a spiritual issue. One man whose church was in the midst of a stewardship campaign, said to his pastor: ?Pastor, don?t you wish you could skip preaching on stewardship and just keep on dealing with SPIRITUAL matters?? Well STEWARDSHIP ? which includes the GIVING of our money to God ? IS a spiritual matter.
The Apostle Paul, one of the church?s greatest spiritual leaders thought of it in that way. I mean, Paul didn?t consider GIVING as UNSPIRITUAL and therefore separate from so-called SPIRITUAL things. We can see this several times in his writings. For example?turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 15. In this text Paul is talking about the day when the dead in Christ will be resurrected (you don?t get much more SPIRITUAL than that!)…and as he writes, he goes on and on about our victory over death in Christ. Listen to his words starting with verse 54: ?Then shall be brought to pass the thing that is written; ?Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus, Christ. Therefore, dear brothers, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord….NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT MONEY.?
That?s exactly what Paul says! The 15th chapter climaxes on that marvelous mountain top of the resurrection, and then right on the heels of that he says, ?Now, here are the directions about the MONEY you?re collecting.? So Paul obviously thought of GIVING MONEY TO THE CHURCH as a very SPIRITUAL MATTER! And?this isn?t the only place you find money talked about in God?s Word. Actually, there are 1,565 references in the Bible to the proper use of our funds. To give you an idea as to the precedence God gives this touchy subject in His book…there are about 500 verses on prayer, about 500 on faith…but more than 2000 that deal with money or possessions.
Jesus Himself had a lot to say about money. This was a key part of His teachings while He was here on this earth. For example, of His 38 parables, almost half tell us how we are to handle our cash. In fact, Jesus had more to say about money and stewardship than He did about any other subject including Heaven, Hell, Salvation, and the Second Coming.
So?if we are to teach the ENTIRE Bible?if we are to study the WHOLE Word of God, we can?t skirt this issue. Talking about money and how we are to spend it is indeed a VERY spiritual matter. It?s an essential part of our ?diet? as growing Christ-followers.
Well, I hope that makes you feel a little more comfortable as I continue. And, if I may be so bold…I will say that if you still feel uncomfortable about my talking about money…its not me who is making you feel that way!
In any case, this morning I want us to go back to the basics when it comes to our church finances so put your Bible in one hand and your copy of the 2011 budget in the other and let?s get started.
(1) The first basic fact I want to underscore is that the figures in this budget represent real MINISTRY.
This is important to remember because we look at this document and all the columns and figures…and well, many times our eyes glaze over and we forget what is really behind all these dollar amounts. I mean, this isn?t just a piece of paper. It?s a physical reminder of how much it costs to do all the things we do here at Redland. Let me put it this way. This document is much more than a financial statement?it?s a statement of the fact that if we don?t give our money ministry won?t happen in and through RBC.
For example, open up your budget to the second page and look under the EVANGELISM heading. The second item is ESL and it says that we are budgeting $2,000 for our English as a Second Language program. We have four classes this year with 75 students enrolled and 13 Redlanders serving as teachers. These ESL classes give us an opportunity to share the gospel with people from all over the world…without our actually GOING all over the world…but it costs money to do that. Mission trips like we just took to the Dominican Republic?and the one we have scheduled in Ocean City later this year cost money. You can see that we have $4,000 budgeted this year to help cover those costs.
Look on page three and you?ll see two VERY successful children?s ministries listed: Vacation Bible school and AWANA. We have a great reputation in our community for putting on an excellent VBS each summer. Hundreds of children attend?and we don?t charge them a cent. To host a quality Vacation Bible School we must budget $4000?and it?s worth every dollar. AWANA has well over 100 children enrolled and they meet every Sunday afternoon during the school year to focus on memorizing Scripture. We budget $1500 for this program?it too worth every dollar. I?m sure they could use more funds if we could make them available! My point is each of these ministry line items costs money. REAL ministry requires REAL funding. This four-page document is a reminder of this BASIC FACT.
As I alluded to earlier, a common complaint when people hear that the pastor is going to preach on stewardship is, ?Why doesn?t the preacher preach the gospel and not preach on money?? I could think of a couple of answers to that statement but the bottom line is this: there is no such thing as preaching the gospel without preaching money. Money and the spread of the gospel are closely linked. In fact, one reason churches like ours have not done more to share the good news of God?s love more is that we have not had more money with which to do it. Ministries are expensive. Proclaiming the eternal truth of the Gospel requires financial resources. If we don?t give?these Redland ministries won?t happen. Listen friends…God has invited us?commanded us?to partner with Him in all He wants to do in and through this local congregation…and one way we embrace this partnership is by giving REAL money. This leads me to point out a second BASIC FACT about this document.
(2) Giving to meet this budget will require real OBEDIENCE.
You see, behind each of these figures there is a decision?a ?yes God agreement??to do something we feel He has called us to do. For example, if you look at the MISSIONS section on page 2 you?ll see a line item for NAMB Haiti Rebuild. The amount budgeted is $2,000. This item is there because last year I heard about our North American Mission Board?s efforts to literally rebuild Haiti. There are Christians like the ones in this picture working with NAMB building houses like this one for families who lost theirs in the earthquake. These homes cost $2,000 and I felt God saying that we here at Redland could cover the cost of at least one so in obedience I had it put in this year?s budget.
Look under the EDUCATION section and you?ll note that there is $3500 budgeted for Women?s ministry. These funds help cover the cost of their weekly study materials, child care, their ?tres feast events??things like that. It first showed up in our budget about 12 years ago when Sue and Louise and Brenda felt God leading them to start a mid-week discipleship program for our women. Today we have 50+ women on Tuesday mornings and 20+ women on Tuesday evenings studying the Bible together. It?s been incredibly successful and beneficial to our entire church. But it all started when those women heard God?s call and obeyed.
I could go on and on because you can say the same thing about every item on this budget…whether it be the funds set aside for Sunday School or Upward Basketball or an Easter Cantata…or a Youth trip to World Changers…..or the hiring of an administrator…or whatever.
Each of these line items is as result of our saying ?YES? to the call of God. In fact, the way we spend out money?the measure to which we give to meet this budget?is an indicator as to how deep our relationship with God really is…and that leads me to a third BASIC church budget fact.
(3) This piece of paper is a symbol of real TRUST on our part.
When we vote to approve a budget like this one, we are not only saying ?Yes, God we will do these things.? We are also saying, ?Yes God, we will trust You enough that we will GIVE sacrificially of our tithes and offerings to make sure funds are available to do these things.?
In fact, I think of giving?TITHING?as a spiritual discipline requiring our TRUST. You see, among those 1,565 references to money in the Bible is God?s repeated promise that if we obey Him and tithe of our income to fund His kingdom work…He will respond by making sure our physical needs are met. So this document is much more than an agreement between the members of this church. It?s our covenant with God. When we vote in a couple weeks we are agreeing to give sacrificially to make sure $1,146,542 is given by us by the end of this year…and we are trusting God to take care of us as we do so.
Now?1.1 million dollars sounds like a lot of money?because it is?so let me build your trust a by sharing some of the verses where God promises to do His part in the covenant this document represents.
In Proverbs 3:9-10 it says, ?Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.?
Proverbs 11:24-25 says, ?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.?
In Malachi 3:10 God says, ?Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.?
In Luke 6:38 Jesus says, ?Give and it will be given to you…a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.?
In Matthew 6:31-34 He says, ?Do not worry, saying, ?What shall we eat?? or ?What shall we drink?? or ?What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.?
I could go on because God repeatedly promises that if we GIVE to Him…if we TITHE…He will give back to us…He will take care of our needs. And I have to say, this is a wonderful promise but it is also one reason TITHING is so hard?because it requires us to TRUST God. I mean, tithing forces us to ignore everything we?ve learned in basic math. I say this because in school we are taught that if we have $100 and give away $10 we only have $90 to work with. But God says, if you give to further My purposes I?ll make sure you still have everything you need. In a very real sense He says if we give to Him we won?t have less to work with. God says we can factor in His powerful provision whenever we give to further His purposes. But this kind of trust doesn?t come easy. It?s hard for many people to trust God with their bank accounts.
The ironic thing is we put our trust in so many seemingly untrustworthy things. For example, U.S. News and World Report says that 150,000 people each year trust their lives to rubber rafts as they shoot the rapids of the Colorado River. Since 1970 well over 45,000 people have taken up the hobby of hang-gliding, trusting their lives to some aluminum bars with canvas stretched across it. Hundreds of thousands of foolish people trust in the lottery. Every year, thousands of bungee jumpers leap from bridges trusting their lives to a big rubber band that?s tied to their feet.
Think of all the sports where people risk their lives by putting their trust in certain things: skydiving, scuba diving, auto racing, snow skiing, horse racing. I read this week that it has recently become popular to swim with sharks.
You may be thinking, ?Well, Mark those people are just crazy. They?re a few fries short of a happy meal. I?m not like them.? Well, how many of you join the tens fo thousands of commuters each morning who put their trust in their cars as they head down I – 270? How many of you trust the stock market to provide for your retirement? The fact is we all put our trust in things that are not always trustworthy so why do we have trouble trusting God when He is ALWAYS trustworthy? Think of it! As Christ-followers we?ve trusted Him for our eternal souls?surely we can trust Him with our checkbooks!
Zig Ziglar makes an interesting point. He says, ?It?s risky when a plane leaves the runway, but that?s what planes are for. It?s more risky for the plane to just sit there and accumulate rust.
It?s risky when a ship leaves the harbor but that?s what a ship is for. It?s riskier when the ship sits in the harbor and collects barnacles. It?s risky for the Christian to give but that?s what we are designed for.? And he?s right. We become Christians by TRUSTING God?and we live as CHRISTIANS by trusting God enough to GIVE to further His kingdom! I will testify that God has been faithful to MORE than meet my needs and my family?s needs?and we?ve been tithing for 32 years now. I have learned that trusting God enough to obey Him and give a tithe allows Him to become supernaturally involved in my finances and that?s a wonderful thing to experience! It?s helped me to see firsthand that the Being Who holds the cosmos together is more than able to take care of my and my family.
I remember several years ago when Sarah and Becca were just little kids barely in elementary school…they were a part of a foreign missions study for children here at Redland back when we had GA?s. As part of this study they learned about the financial needs of missionaries. They learned that there are people all around the world who have yet to hear the good news that God loves them….that there are people who have still not even heard the name of JESUS CHRIST.
Understanding this need and the cost of sending people around the world to proclaim the good news of God?s love really touched my girls. They suddenly wanted to give generously to the Lottie Moon offering. It was something they took very seriously. So they emptied their piggy banks and began to save all of their weekly allowance for this cause. When the time came they gave literally all they had…and enjoyed doing it. They were so excited!
Sue and I almost discouraged this. We thought perhaps we should encourage them to keep a little back for themselves. We wondered why they felt so free to give their all. And then we realized that it was because they knew that their parents would provide for their basic needs of food, and clothing, and a roof over their heads. They knew that if they had a need, they could come to us. They knew that we would help them if they needed money for something. In short, they knew they had a backup. And you know it is the same with us. God urges us to give sacrificially?but He also promises to take care of us….to provide for our needs. As we write that tithe check every week we can know we have a heavenly Father backing us up. Jesus said, ?Which of you, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!? We don?t have to be afraid to be generous in our giving…because we have a heavenly Father Who knows how to take care of His children and promises to do so. Our heavenly Father can be trusted to take care of us.
In fact, when we refuse to tithe?when we refuse to be good stewards?we are in essence saying that we don?t trust God to do what He has said He will do in all these texts. We are choosing to trust ME to take care of ME instead of God. Well, you can?t take as good a care of you as God can! No way!
Now?I want you to note something about this year?s budget. It reflects our belief for nearly 10 years now that God wants us to build the ROC and use it as a tool to reach families in our community. That annual mortgage amount of $148,760 is 13% of this 2011 budget?and it is reflective of that belief. It shows our OBEDIENCE to God in building that structure. Well, this year I want to challenge you to TRUST God enough to give above and beyond your tithes to help us pay off this mortgage. We?ll talk more about this after we get the permit and begin to use the building but I?d like you to pray about this and talk with your family and then make a special sacrificial commitment. I?d like you to covenant as families to not only tithe to meet our ministry expenses?but on top of that to give a monthly amount to help us pay the ROC off as soon as possible. Starting in April the offering envelopes you receive will have a line for this purpose. One line will be for the amount of your tithes and the other will be for ?ROC DEBT RETIREMENT.? If 150 families each covenanted to give $1000 extra this year that would cover our mortgage. That?s just $83 per month so we?re not talking about a great deal of trust. The fact is God asked us to build this building?and I challenge you to trust Him enough to give to help pay for it. Trust that He will provide for your needs if you fund this need.
This leads me to mention one final thing when it comes to budget basics.
(3) When we obey God in doing what He tells us to do as a church…when we trust Him and give sacrificially…such that we meet our budget…our church experiences real UNITY.
In our text Paul is talking about when He obeyed God and raised money to help the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who were literally STARVING to death? These early Christians were in desperate shape due to drought and persecution and Paul went to the churches he had started and asked them to help. In this way he raised funds to help the Jerusalem church. But I think he had a larger agenda in mind than JUST raising money for the Christians in Jerusalem. You see he had started these churches in the Gentile world. So, he had an investment in them. He wanted the faith of these new Christians to grow and he knew that if they got involved in this offering for these needy people, this is exactly what would happen. I think Paul thought, ?… if I can get these new Christians to give to this needy group of Christians they will grow in Christ because:they will put others needs before their own…and…in giving sacrificially they will have to trust God and so they will learn to rely on His strength.?
But there?s more. I also think Paul was thinking about how the Jewish Christians were a little nervous about the Gentile Christians and the Gentile Christians were a little nervous and suspicious about the Jewish Christians. And he felt that if he took this offering from the Gentiles and gave it to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, it might help to break down some of the barriers, and create a unity in the church.
This ought to say something to you and me. There is so much more involved in subscribing a church budget than simply paying the bills. Because giving IS something that helps us grow spiritually as we deepen our trust in God….and giving TOGETHER builds our fellowship! In fact, a church budget is a team project from the beginning. We put it together as a team?each committee and program ministry lets us know it?s needs each fall. Through business meetings like the one we?ll have tonight, we look at the budget and the plans it involves TOGETHER. We pray about it together and we vote on it….TOGETHER! And then all year we all sacrificially give TOGETHER to meet it. We pool our financial resources to achieve a common goal…and it feels GREAT when we succeed?as we have in past years!
I have to point out that the thing that fuels our newfound unity in all this is our LOVE of God. We give out of love for Him Who first loved us. As someone once wisely said, You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. When we write those tithe checks we?re not just telling God we trust Him, we?re telling Him we love Him. And that kind ?cheerful giver? love binds our church family together.
You know, every day that I live serving God in your midst I am more in awe of how wonderful a church this is. We are so very blessed here at Redland! We have people here who have an obvious faith in God. We are blessed with a wonderful staff, a growing Sunday School for all age groups, music Groups of all shapes and sizes, a beautiful facility, including an almost complete ROC. God has GIVEN us so much! But we must be careful?for?if we are to continue to enjoy this place where we abound in so many blessings from God…then we must balance our receiving with our giving. In our text from 2nd Corinthians 8 Paul warns churches like ours when he says, ?But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in the gracious work of giving also.? You see we can get all the essential beliefs right but if we do not have a super abundant willingness to give, then our church life will be in danger of becoming stagnant. The Christian life takes on a healthy balance when our taking in and giving out stay in step with each other. Remember, as 2nd Corinthians 9:6-7 says: ?Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.? Let?s remember this as we gather to discuss the budget tonight?and then in the next couple weeks as we each decide how we will cast our votes on February 27…and in coming months as we each give of our tithes and offerings.
LET US PRAY