We had a baptism and a nice Moment for Misson about stewardship as part of our worship, so the sermon had those elements of worship supporting it. The sermon seemed to work ok.
“On Your Mark” Luke 12: 13-23; SAPC; Denton; October 9, 2022; Richard B. Culp
Luke 12: Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Introduction: After three weeks in the Joseph story and before we move on to the Esther story, we spend a few weeks reflecting on stewardship, which will culminate with commitment Sunday at the end of the month.
whether you are a member or regular attendee at St. Andrew and participate in making a pledge each year or not, we are all invited to spend these next few weeks reflecting on how we make our spending choices and how they reflect our discipleship.
We begin this week in preparation - “on your mark” as we examine our resources and prepare to take off in how we use them.
Move 1: We assess our financial situations.
a. That’s what the rich man Jesus talks about is doing.
1. Looking at all he has, assessing his resources.
2. he is rightly pleased with himself. He has an abundance of possessions and is apparently very good at producing crops.
3. So much so that he has to consider building barns to store all his excess.
4. Many of us know what it is like to assess our resources. Or some days, m obsess over our resources.
5. We look at what we have, consider the future, and look at other factors like job security, or how long we plan on working, or how inflation is impacting the economy, or what interest rates are doing.
6. LIke the rich man, we assess our financial situation in life.
b. But notice that the rich man’s assessment only includes himself.
1. He has no sense of how others have helped him produce in abundance.
2. he has no sense of how his resources could be shared with others or used for mutual benefit.
3. His assessment only includes himself.
4. most importantly. he forgets that all that he has comes from God.
b. there was a ruling elder in the church I served in Troy. Terrific guy and leader. ran the quickest meetings I’ve ever been in - have you ever been to a committee meeting that latest 15 minutes.
he was pretty conservative in his outlook on finances and life and also had a heart for helping those in need.
I think he saw part of his duty was to teach me some of his conservative ways.
We worked on a lot of projects together - capital campaigns; stewardship drives; on a housing ministry that worked with families to help them buy their first homes.
One time when we were talking about the inequity in the world in who had money and who did not have money, he told, “Richard, I think if we took everyone’s money in the world, divided it evenly, and gave it back out, within a few years, we’d have the same inequities. some people just make better use of their money.”
Thus began a long conversation with no resolution, except he agreed that he was not ready to give all his money away to test his theory.
We did have common agreement on one important point - it did not matter if a person had a lot of money or not much, it all should be understood as a gift from God.
c. as we move into our stewardship season, we invite you to assess your own situation.
1. as you reflect on your resources and how you are managing them, do not forget we are just stewards of the resources we have.
1. Some of us might be better at it - apparently, the rich man was good at producing crops and making money.
2. The question is not how we spend or invest or manage or mismanage, but how we use this gift from God.
At the beginning of the day, all we have God has given to us.
At the end of the day, all we have comes from God.
d. True on a corporate level as well
1. As a congregation, we are blessed with many resources.
2. How do we utilize them in ways that acknowledge our understanding that all our gifts come from God?
Move 2: the rich man is unable to move from scarcity thinking to abundance thinking.
a. Rich man sees his abundance, but what drives him is his fear of scarcity.
1. He does not trust God to provide for him in the future, so he builds barns more barns to store his abundance so he can use them for his own future.
2. He cannot share his abundance or put it to work in ways to benefit others because he is worried that he will not have enough for himself.
b. God calls us to see the abundance God has given us so we do not act out of fear of scarcity.
1. If we do not trust God to provide for us in the future, then we have to make decisions about using our resources that grow out of the belief that we need to hoard and keep everything for ourselves.
2. If we see the abundance of God’s gifts and trust in God’s abundance to continue, then we can share our resources in ways that benefit others and connect us with what God is doing beyond ourselves.
c. this is true for the church as well.
1. How we utilize our resources as a congregation and invest in ministries speaks to how we trust God to provide for us in the future.
2. If all we see is scarcity, we become imprisoned by our lack of vision and miss out on how we can use our resources to engage in ministry.
Move 3: So we are called to imagine the possibilities
a. the rich man has no need to imagine the possibilities for what he can do with his resources because he sees no connection between what he has and anything else or anyone else in the world.
1. No wonder his conversation is with himself.
2. he can see no one beyond himself.
b. We are invited to consider the possibilities for how we use our resources that call us to look beyond ourselves.
1. A conversation in which we imagine possibilities.
2. A conversation in which we see the needs of others.
3. A conversation in which we listen for God’s guidance.
4. John Calvin, the great Reformer, wrote: “Let this, therefore, be our rule for generosity and beneficence: We are the stewards of everything God has conferred on us by which we are able to help our neighbor and are required to render an account of our stewardship. Moreover, the only right stewardship is that which is tested by the rule of love.”
c. Again, that is not just an individual task, but our calling as the church.
1. We too are called to imagine possibilities for how God will use our resources to connect with others and minister to them.
2. Every time we baptize, particularly an infant, we imagine the possibilities for how God is going to shape that child’s life.
3. if we think about the exciting plans parents, grandparents, friends, and relatives have for Bo this morning, we can see the excitement of possibilities.
4. We are called to imagine the possibilities we have as a church to use our resources.
2. I am reminded of the story told about the minister preaching to the congregation about the possibilities and potential of the congregation. He told them, “With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking.”
now This was a church in which people spoke out in church, “Amens” and such, and several responded, “Let the church walk, Pastor, let the church walk.”
He continued, with more enthusiasm, “And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run!” And the people caught the enthusiasm and shouted, “Let the church run, Pastor, let the church run!”
The pastor really had a head of steam up now, and said, “And finally this church can move from running to flying! Oh, yes, this church can fly! But of course, that’s going to take lots of money for that to happen!”
All someone in the back shouted out: “Let the church crawl, Pastor, let the church crawl.”
Conclusion: it can be scary and demanding to imagine the possibilities and work toward them, but that is our calling.
So “on your mark!” - assess your situations, claim the abundance of God’s gifts, imagine the possibilities, and prepare to take off!
No comments:
Post a Comment