Reflections on “Stewardship Questions: How Much Should I Give?" Mark 12: 41-44

The sermon went much like I hoped it would.  It got off to a rough start when no one laughed at my opening joke at the end of the introduction.  Maybe people were not ready to laugh as they were contemplating stewardship.  It was quite a shift from the energy and excitement of the special Fall Festival of Faith worship service we had the previous Sunday.  I tried to address that in the beginning of the sermon.

I thought the story about the doctor from my internship year and the couple with the mistake on their pledge were particularly effective stories. 

“Stewardship Questions: How Much Should I Give?; Mark 12: 41-44  October 29, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

Mark 12: 41-44:  ⁴¹He [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Introduction:  quite a shift from last week’s glorious, music-driven worship service to a sermon on stewardship.

although last week’s worship emphasized baptism and today we gather around the waters of baptism and each as Isabel enters the waters of baptism.

also, last week’s concert and worship service were part of the annual Fall Festival of Faith, which continues to be funded by the Ruth I Anderson fund - a wonderful stewardship illustration of how our giving can impact the generations to come.

This morning, our final stewardship sermon before bringing out pledge cards back next week (you’ll get them in the mail this week), or making our pledge online, or however you do it.

Our final stewardship question:  “How much should i give?”

You perhaps remember the story of the man who answered that question by taking his money and throwing it into the air and yelling,” Keep what you want God, and send me back the the rest.”  Then, he quickly gathered up all the money God apparently had returned to him! 

A few thoughts on determining “how much should I give?”

Move 1: One approach we might call the mathematical approach. 

a. Math seems easy enough.

1.  biblical model of tithe (10%).

2.  Multiply that 10% by the how much money we make

or how much allowance we are given 

or how much our investments grow each year.

3.  This approach also allows us to analyze how we are doing and what goals we might have.

this year, I’m only doing 5%, but I will increase it by 1% each year until I get to 10%.

or, I am in a position to give more than a tithe, so I am going to do 12% this year.

makes it easy to determine the amount, adjust the amount to reflect changing circumstances, and makes it easy to tell if we met our goal.

b.  When I was on internship my first year and the Christmas holidays rolled around, I knew I had to work Christmas Eve, but I wondered about New Year’s Eve.

So I asked if we took New Year’s Eve off.

“no.” my supervisor told me.

“How late do we work on New Year" Eve?”

“Until Dr. Harrison [not his real name} comes in.

Apparently,  the doctor would have his accountant figure out the profit his practice had made for the year, and then he would come in and give 10%, a tithe of that profit.

The office stayed open every year until he arrived with his tithe!

 Fast forward a couple of months and Leslie, my wife,  and I are having dinner with the doctor and his wife.  They are reminiscing about the days when he was in medical school and she worked at a low-paying job.  She sort of rolled her eyes at one point and said,  “Even when we barely had enough food to feed ourselves, he wrote those checks to the church for our tithe.” 

The doctor didn’t say much (he wasn’t a man of many words), but I learned a lot about giving in that moment

c. Challenge to keep giving from becoming a rule 

1. We set the mathematical formula, and it becomes all about the formula.

that becomes our basis of analysis every year;

it becomes our point of pride, perhaps.

2.  It is easy to lose the connection between our giving and the God who has given so much to us;

to lose sight of the commitment to give back to God.

Move 2:  there is also what i would call the spontaneous giving approach

a.  Moved by the moment, or the cause

1.  Ice Bucket Challenge was a great example of this.

 Do you remember it?  In 2014, the challenge was started by a couple of guys who wanted to raise money and awareness for ALS.  

They recorded the person sitting there getting an ice bucket of water poured on their head.  the person then challenged someone else to take the ice bucket challenge.

Each person made a contribution to ALS as part of the process, or you could get out of taking the challenge by making a donation to ALS.

The ice bucket challenge went viral.  People were doing it in all sorts of ways and places.  Celebrities got involved.  

A spontaneous commitment to take the ice bucket challenge raised $115 million dollars that year.

(See www.forbbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2014/08/29/the-als-ice-bucket-challenge-has-raised-100m-but-its-finally-cooling-off/)

2.  The next year, it raised $500,000.   the ice bucket craze had come and gone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge

b.  Spontaneity or being moved in the moment may work better with one-time gifts than making pledges or a series of gifts, but I have heard stories from members of this congregation or other congregations.

1.  Someone heard the Moment for Mission and was so moved by the person’s commitment, that they were moved to increase their commitment.

2.  Or, someone was reminded of how much they loved a particular ministry, so at that moment decided to increase their giving.

3. I have even had on a couple of occasions people leave church with their pledge cards and tell me they are going to bring it back later because they were moved in the worship to reconsider and increase their giving.

Move 3:  there’s also what I would call the Oops plan for giving.

a.  couple that got confused about their pledge card

1. they had discussed several times what they would pledge for the upcoming year.

2. they thought they agreed.

3.  turned out they had never clarified whether they were talking about once/month gift or once a payroll period gift. 

4. the one who turned in the pledge card picked the payroll period.

Or something like that - I never quite figured out who the mistake was made, just that they thought they had agreed, but it turned out the one who turned in the pledge turned in a  much bigger pledge than the other expected.  almost twice as much as I recall.

5.  when they started telling me their story, I figured they were coming to tell me they wanted to reduce their pledge.

But, to my surprise, they told me that had decided to try to keep the mistaken pledge.

As one spouse put it, “Well, maybe it’s what we need to push us in our giving.”

b.  maybe we all could use an oops moment every now and then.

Move 4:  A final approach to consider:  being a revelation giver

a. A revelation giver is not necessarily a reasoned giver as in the math dictates the commitment.

a revelation giver is not just giving in a spontaneous manner

a revelation giver is not mistakenly making a commitment

A revelation giver prayerfully considers what gift can be given that reveals for the giver their commitment to being a disciple of Christ 

and reveals to others the ongoing work of God in the world

b. Perhaps you have heard the story of Hattie Mae Wiatt.   In 1886, she was a child in a small congregation in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

The congregation was growing and Hattie showed up one Sunday for Sunday school and the building was full, so she couldn’t go in.  As she stood outside crying, the minister came up to her and when he heard the story promised her that one day the church would be big enough for all the people.  

Hattie went home and told her parents she was going to save her money and help Dr. Conwell, the minister, build a church.

Unfortunately, Hattie May became sick with tuberculosis and died before any progress could be made on the new church building.  at the funeral, Hattie’s parents gave the money Hattie had been saving for the new church to the minister - 57 cents.

Rev. Conwell turned the change into 57 pennies, told the story of Hattie May to the leadership of the congregation, and auctioned off the pennies for $250.

the $250 was used to buy a house nearby to house the bigger Sunday school.  the leaders created the Hattie May Wiatt Mite Society for the future growth of the church.

Eventually, the house became Temple College, which is now Temple University, and the Wiatt Mite Society raised funds to build the Good Samaritan Hospital, which became Temple University Hospital.

https://www.thirdsectoronline.com/14240; https://www.gbbconline.com/57-cents-that-made-history/)

Hattie was a revelation giver.

Conclusion:  Finish with the image of the widow whom Jesus watched at the Temple.

we do not know if she had figured out some formula to determine how much she would give that day.

we do not know if she had been moved by something and it was a spontaneous gift.

We do not know, although we can make a pretty good guess that it was not an oops type of gift.  

But we do know that her giving revealed her commitment to God.

We do know that Jesus told the story, and we still tell the story, because it reveals the God who is still at work in the world, who calls us to join in that work.

“How much should I give?”

Enough to be a revelation giver.

Amen.

Reflections on “Stewardship Questions: Will Giving Make Me Feel Better; Luke 18: 9-14

this is the first of three sermons on stewardship this fall.  We also had two baptisms in our worship service.  I struggled to prepare this sermon, but it ended up being an okay sermon, at least to me.   Not a whole lot of feedback or reaction from the congregation.

“Stewardship Questions: Will Giving Make Me Feel Better; Luke 18: 9-14  October 8, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Introduction:  We take a four week break from sermons on OT sidekicks and will spend three weeks on stewardship and one week,  October 22, having our  glorious Fall Festival of Faith worship.

Each week of the stewardship sermons, we will reflect on questions people often ask about stewardship.

Within the context of St. Andrew, our reflections on stewardship are tied to making pledges for our giving back to God for 2024.

But, the stewardship questions, the giving back to God reflections, speak to all of us as questions for how we live our lives, not just if we are members of St.Andrew.

Move 1: Question this morning - will giving make me feel better?

a.  I have been asked this question directly - although maybe they were just kidding when they asked it;

1.  but I have also heard this question discussed indirectly in various classes, committee meetings, or just in conversations.

2.  It is something of a cost/benefit question - will I benefit by feeling better if I give of my resources.

3.  Sort of the feelings part of the prosperity gospel mantra - give back to God and you will prosper by feeling better about yourself!

b.  To begin analysis of that, let’s look at the story Jesus tells us about two people.

a.  First, the Pharisee 

1. We know he is someone who has succeeded in his life, been recognized as a leader in his religious circles, and has a position of authority and responsibility.

2.  Been doing everything correctly.

2.  He fasts twice a week;

3. He tithes, which means 10% of what he makes, he gives back to God.

4. he knows the rules of giving and meets the expectations of giving.

b. then, there is the tax collector.

1. By his job, we expect him to be sort of shady.

2. We are not told how much he gives, but we do know that his daily life is not about giving to others, but taking from others.

3. the more he takes, the more he makes.

c.  who ought to feel better about his giving?

1. If it were not for the way Jesus finishes the story, the easy answer would be the Pharisee.

choose the tither to feel good because of his giving.

he is intentional and meets the letter of the law.

Every church institution needs and appreciates a tither, an intentional, patterned giver.

and the Pharisee’s comments suggest his giving makes him feel better, 

at least better than everyone!

2. The tax collector?

not so much

as he beats his breast, he does not seem to feel too good about anything in his life, much less his giving.

d.  As we look at how we might perceive these two people and how Jesus describes them, we suddenly realize - the question is not whether giving makes us feel better, but will our giving transform us.

1. Jesus shifts the perspective - instead of do we feel good or not, the question becomes how are we being transformed.

2. The Pharisee may feel better about himself, including his giving pattern, but he is unchanged.

3. The tax collector is being transformed.

If the goal of our giving is to feel better about ourselves we are led astray like the Pharisee;

if we give as part of our ongoing transformation as disciples of Christ, our giving opens us up to all sorts of possibilities.

Move 2:  God calls us to give as part our what it means to be connected to others beyond ourselves.

a.  Giving can give us the opportunity to live into our connectedness.

1. I read a study a few years ago put out by Warwick Business School in England.

The report sought to figure out what made countries happier.

They discovered that a happy country had less to do with the wealth of the people and more to do with the people being big givers.

this tied to some other experiments they had been conducting that showed "small-scale laboratory experiments which have shown that when people are asked to spend money on others they feel happier than people who are asked to spend money on themselves. This goes against conventional economic wisdom, and indeed human intuition, that says that spending money on ourselves will make us happier.”

Maybe counter-intuitive to what we might expect. ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/08/good-samaritan-charitable-giving)

2.  I suppose I could stop there and say, “See, giving will make you feel better!”

b.  But why does giving to help others make us feel better?

1. Because giving changes our lives and calls us to recognize our connections beyond ourselves.

2. Because giving calls us to reimagine ourselves as more than just selfish people only interested in ourselves;

to reimagine ourselves and commit ourselves to joining with Christ in transforming the world.

Move 3:  Giving ought to make demands on us.

a.   I saw a cartoon with two cars at a stoplight.

One car was a Rolls Royce - obviously a sign of affluence, whose driver was doing quite well be earthly standards  

the Rolls Royce had a bumper sticker on it: "If You Love Jesus, Honk." 

Next to it was a much older mid-sized car - not a junker by any means, but next to the Rolls Royce it seemed a step or two down the ladder of monetary success.  

this car had the bumper stick: "If you love Jesus, tithe. Anyone can honk." 

Honk or tithe?

1.  A Rolls Royce might make us feel better for the moment;

2. intentional discipleship creates those opportunities to engage in Christ’s work; 

b. Will giving make you feel better?

1. the invitation to reflect on our giving patterns invites us to consider how our giving shapes our lives.

2.  Are we giving in intentional ways to shape our lives?

3. As noted, the Pharisee was a tither.  

But, it appears he was tithing just to check off the list of things he was supposed to do.

4.  Tithing is not about a checklist, but about setting goals for our giving that will remind us every time we give our gifts that we are called to be intentional in our discipleship.

5. Making commitments to give back to God calls us to focus on living our lives of discipleship and growing into the new creations God desires of us.

Conclusion:  God asks us to give back not because God needs what we have to give, but because we need to give.

 Do we need to give to feel better?  I don’t know.  

But I do know that God calls us to give in ways that transform us, 

in ways that connect us beyond ourselves

in ways that help us grow in our discipleship.

Amen.