As we continue through our Stewardship Sermon series, we talked first about witness, then Sabbath and this past week about Money. I have heard and preached many sermons on giving of our money and I feel this was one of the best. I have had conversations with folks after Sunday’s sermon that have had good questions and faithful follow through about it. The scripture we unpacked together is Mark 10:17-27 when a wealthy man approaches Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. Often in the church we focus on how the man went away and how he missed out. But what if he eventually figured it out, obeyed Jesus and returned to follow him? What if he did end up shifting his priorities, putting his trust in Jesus and becoming one of his first followers? We can never know what happened after this story, but the part of the Scripture that really stood out to me this time in studying it is when it says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
When I think about how many times I have asked Jesus for the “right answer” on a problem I had to solve and he looked at me with love, I am overwhelmed. And the more I learn about the love God has for me and how God wants the best for me, I see how “my money” plays a role in that. It is because of Jesus’ love for me that I am invited to live free from being possessed by my possessions. Not that we have to give everything we own away but so we won’t be “owned” by things. We have freedom when we know that Jesus loves us enough to not let us be defined by material things. And as I studied this text again this week, I felt the love that Jesus had for the wealthy man wash over me too.
As I was talking with my Connect Group about this passage this week, what came up over and over again was the word TRUST. Do we trust that God will meet our needs? It could be that we have thought that the wealthy man in this Scripture went away from Jesus because he was greedy and didn’t want to give away all he had (which to be honest, I would struggle with too). But what if it wasn’t greed that stopped the wealthy man, what if it was FEAR? Apprehension and distress is the opposite of trust and if we aren’t careful, fear wins every time.
With that in mind, I want to ask you, does FEAR stop you from giving all you can? Fear that there won’t be enough. Fear that incoming medical bills will be more than you can handle. Fear because you are on a fixed income. Fear because your family or friends might need your financial help one day?
These are all fears and very real and honest truths for the world we live in today. The older I get and the more ‘adulting’ I do…I think this story is less about being greedy and more about naming the fear of not having enough. I believe that one of the reasons why talking about financial stewardship is so awkward for those in the church is because we have yet to address the fear of not having enough. We live in a culture that is always pushing us to buy more, invest more, spend more and I heard yesterday that the credit card debt in our country this quarter is at an all time high. The truth is trusting that we don’t need all of our wants and that God will be faithful in meeting our needs is so counter-cultural to our lives today.
But here is what I have learned:
Ryan and I have been giving over and above since we were married 14.5 years ago and since we have always given 10% or more of our salary back to the churches, ministries and non-profits that work to bring God’s Kingdom to earth, we have NEVER GONE WITHOUT. Yes, we have had to be diligent and money smart. We have had to budget and save and say no to a lot of things we wanted to say yes to, we have had to work side jobs, and shop around and buy clothes and shoes second hand, but we have never gone without. The point is, we don’t just blindly trust that God will meet our needs, no, as followers of Jesus we still have to be wise and steward our finances well, but when we give 10% or more to the churches we serve, we have such freedom in knowing that God has been, is now and ever will be faithful. We learned a long time ago that all we have is God’s anyways and we are only stewarding these gifts while we can in the time we have. And in this mindset, we have such freedom. We don’t always get it right, but we are clear about our financial priorities and how we have put God first not just because we are spiritual leaders, but because we refuse to let fear win. We commit to each other and to our church families that we will model trust in a God that gave his first and best for us.
I don’t know what you are struggling to trust in today, but it always helps me when I am afraid to sing a song. And so I want to end today’s devotion with the lyrics from the Hymn: God of the Ages.
God of the ages, by whose hand
Through years long past our lives were led,
Give use new courage now to stand,
New faith to find the paths ahead.
Thou art the thought beyond all thought,
The gift beyond our utmost prayer;
No farthest reach where thou art not,
No height but we may find thee there.
Forgive our wavering trust in thee,
Our wild alarms, our trembling fears;
In thy strong hand eternally
Rests the unfolding of the years.
Though there be dark, uncharted space,
With worlds on worlds beyond our sight,
Still may we trust thy love and grace
And wait thy word, Let there be light.
Amen.
Hymn written by Elisabeth Burrowes