“My Own
Gold” SAPC; November 16, 2016; 1 Chronicles 29:1-5; Isaiah 65:17-25
As with lots of texts, I have preached them before, and today's was no exception. I chose it because it is one of my favorite texts on giving. When I worked with the text this time, I focused more on King David's role throughout the sermon, which made the sermon more effective.
I also ran into an interesting issue. the illustration from the Lexington Herald Leader is a powerful illustration to me. It has now became dated in the sense that the it happened 20 plus years ago. In the original story, the cost of the cable per month was about $30. If I had used that amount in the story, it would have been unbelievable, literally. I opted to change from a fixed amount to one month's worth of cable. i think the point was still made.
I also described my daughters and giving patterns, which will probably get me in trouble when they read them. admittedly, their particular giving patterns are more nuanced than I made them out to be, but I also suspect that the descriptions are accurate enough that each of them could tell you who was who! I used it because it fit with the time with Young Disciples story and because I have often puzzled at who differently they all approach giving, even though they were all raised in the same household. it also reminds me that how I live out my giving pattern will be different than how someone else does their giving. and now for a mea culpa (or father moment), I also would note that all three of my daughters are very generous in many ways with their time, talent, and treasure. i continue to learn about generosity as I observe them.
I Chronicles 29: 1-5: King David said to the
whole assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and
inexperienced, and the work is great; for the temple[a] will not be for mortals
but for the Lord God. 2 So I have provided for the house of my God,
so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the
things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the
things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of
onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious
stones, and marble in abundance. 3 Moreover, in addition to all
that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold
and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the
house of my God: 4 three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of
Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls
of the house, 5 and for all the work to be done by artisans, gold
for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer
willingly, consecrating themselves today to the Lord?”
Introduction:
I have discovered through the years
that people often want to know what I think about stewardship or giving,
especially when I am the newly arrived minister and/or it is stewardship
season.
Let me go on record as noting that I think giving is
a good thing. Not particularly harmful
to anyone!
This morning I want to look at King David’s approach
to giving as a way of sharing with you in more detail my approach to
stewardship.
Do you remember that King David did not build the
Temple? He wanted to build it, but God told him he was not going to get a
chance. Instead his son Solomon would
build the Temple in the future.
David could have gotten upset with God. David could have quit giving. You know the logic, “If God won’t let me do
what I think needs to be done with my gifts, then I’m going to take my gifts
elsewhere.”
But David does not do that. Instead, David becomes a fundraiser. He is
going stockpile resources and money for Solomon his son to build the Temple in
the future.
Note that at the heart of David’s approach to giving
is his desire to give back to God. A
desire that is greater than even the plans he might have for how those resources
might be used.
Then we see David hit the resources of the kingdom –
gold, onyx, silver, different kinds of wood, different kinds of stones.
The kingdom has lots of resources, and David gives a
bunch of them back to God.
I suppose it’s nice for David to be king and have all
those resources to give back to God. It
impacts the kingdom’s bottom line, but not his own personal wealth.
As you have prayerfully considered your giving to the
God through the St. Andrew for next year, wouldn’t it have been nice to give a
generous gift without it impacting you at all?
Or maybe not. David
does not stop with the giving of the kingdom’s resources.
He gives, as he tells it, “from my own gold.”
For David, giving needs to be personal.
Move 1: Our giving needs to impact us personally.
a.
I
don’t mean personal in the sense that no one else will know what you give – that’s
really a privacy issue.
1.
By personal, I mean it has to matter to you.
2.
Our giving ought to be like David’s – a commitment
from our own gold that we desire to give back to God.
b.
I remember a story I read years ago when I served
a church in KY.
1.
The
Lexington Herald-Leader had an
article about how the big, independent Christian church that seemed to have
lots of money did their stewardship campaign.
2.
The church has some wealthy people who gave
big gifts, but also lower incomes families that contributed as well.
3.
The
reporter interviewed a family that had very little discretionary income.
4.
The
kids were old enough that the parents and kids talked about how they could give
to the church. After looking at their finances
together, the kids came up with an idea.
They could give up cable TV and give that amount each month to the
church.
5.
Was
it the biggest gift given? Not even
close.
6.
Was
that family personally invested in their giving and their pledge. Absolutely.
Our giving needs to impact us
personally.
a. King David is
giving of his own gold back to God knowing that it is for a project that will
not be his.
1. He may never see the return on his giving.
2. And still he gives.
b. In recent years there has been a lot of added
language and changed language on giving statements people receive from groups
to which they give money.
1. If you look at
a thank-you note or statement of giving from a non-profit, I would guess that
it has some disclaimer that your gift was strictly a gift and you did not receive
any goods and services for your gift. I
believe it is a requirement from the IRS.
2. When churches
first began adopting that type of language to their giving statements, a
Methodist church in a nearby town to where I served in OH sent out giving
statements with this phrase: “You have received nothing from the church in
exchange for the contributions shown on this report.”
3. Laughed at,
followed by comment after comment about how ridiculous it was to say that
people did not receive anything from their giving to the church.
We all know people receive pastoral care; opportunities to grow; the giving was used for ministries that made us feel good.
It was suggested that churches find different language that would satisfy the IRS, but also not say that people get nothing from the church.
4. I confess I
kind of liked the language.
5. I couldn’t convince the Treasurer to add it to our
giving statements, but I thought it made a lot of sense theologically.
6. We do not give because we expect to get something in
return – we give back to God because God is worthy of it and because we are
grateful to God.
c. The prophet Isaiah tells us God is doing a new thing.
1. God is working to create a world in which a wolf and
a lamb will feed together.
2. The God who is doing a new thing in our lives.
3. We give to God because of who God is, not because we
somehow want a particular return from God.
a.
I bet the story
of David giving from his own treasure spread like wildfire.
1.
Three days
later anywhere in Israel they could tell you about how King David did not just
give out of the kingdom’s money, but gave his own resources.
2.
Like the
game of gossip, I bet the story got better and better as it was told.
3.
Remember
Jesus telling a story about the widow who did not have much to give, but gave
generously? Of course you remember it,
because we tell it again and again. Her modeling
stewardship speaks louder than any decree on how much we should give.
b.
Jack stofer
1.
His photo sits on the bookshelf above my computer in
my office.
2.
A black and
white photo of this old farmer. Not a
rich old farmer, just and old farmer. He
would describe for me what it was like to plant crops and watch them grow or
watch calves grow in such powerful ways that it almost made me want to be a
farmer. Almost.
3.
I noticed that Jack put something in the
offering plate every week. He sat on the
second row each week, so I noticed.
4.
This seemed
a bit odd after I learned that most of the farmers who raised cattle gave their
total pledge in August after the cattle sales.
5.
I learned
that the first august I was there.
Giving that month was tremendous.
I figured it was because they’d heard a couple of months of my sermons,
but then the stewardship chair informed me that August was often the biggest
giving month of the year because of the cattle sales.
6.
So I asked
Jack about why he gave every week instead of just in August.
7.
He told me
that he did most of his pledge in August, but he put at least a dollar in the
offering plate every week. Why? Because years
before he’d been sitting on the pew passing the offering plate and put nothing
in it. The little girl sitting next to
him was the daughter of their best friends, so she knew Jack pretty well. As she watched him pass the offering plate
without putting anything in it, she told announced to her mother, “Look at that
old snake Jack Stofer. He didn’t give
anything to God.”
8.
From that
Sunday on, Jack always put at least a dollar in the offering plate in case some
kid was watching.
c.
Our giving
matters to each of us personally, but it also matters to our children as we teach
them about giving.
1.
Our giving
matters to others, not because we announce to everyone how much we give, but because
they hear us tell about our desire to give, and they notice we prioritize
giving.
2. King David could have issued a command demanding
everyone give, but I suspect his example of giving worked better than any royal
decree he might have issued.
Conclusion: As I mentioned in the time with the
young disciples, I have three daughters who grew up in the same household and
have three different approaches to giving.
All three have made pledges through
the years at the insistence of their parent.
One of them gives her pledge and
then is always throwing in extra money – a good babysitting job on Saturday
night, throw in some cash on Sunday; feeling guilty about something, put
something in the offering plate; excited about something good that has
happened, give some more to the offering plate.
One of them approaches giving in a
very structured way. Analyze expected
income from allowance and jobs; determine 10%; divide by 12; make
payments. Often completes the pledge for
the year in the summer so that she does not have to deal with it each
week.
One of my daughters isn’t always
sure about how much she should give; we have always had long discussions about
what income number should be used when figuring out her giving. She might even forget to give, until her
father sees her giving statement and reminds her, which generally leads to a
conversation about whether her income is less than expected and her giving
needs to be reduced accordingly.
Three daughters raised by the same two parents and instructed in giving
in the same ways; three different approaches to giving.
Each of us has to find our own giving pattern. I hope you find a giving pattern for you that
makes your giving personal, that gives to God because god is worthy of it, and
you share your giving pattern with your kids and others to model the importance
of giving back to God.
After David tells about giving of his own gold, he asks, "Who then
will offer willingly?”
Who then? Amen.
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