Sermon November 15 “Stewardship: The Irony of Giving” Part 2

The second sermon in this series picked up where Jesus left off. Our focus passage was Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus begins this with a “Therefore…” Basically he has told this gathered crowd that they can’t worship two things. The human heart only has the capacity to worship one thing. God or mammon, you choose.

What follows Jesus’ “therefore” is a life lesson for those who in their hearts have decided on God as the focus of their worship rather than mammon. The “therefore” then means, in a very real sense, “this is what such stewardship looks like in your life.”

And what does Jesus say? Don’t worry or be anxious! Stop worrying about what C. H. Spurgeon calls “the world’s trinity of cares”: what you eat, what you drink, and what you wear; what you put in and what you put on. Worry is not conducive to a life of worship. Anxiety does not produce good stewardship.

Jesus says, “Look at the flowers. Watch the birds. Let God’s creation testify to his ability to sustain all that he has made. And don’t you know that you are more valuable than the rest of creation? Pagans, godless wanderers, mammon worshipers fill their lives with worry over the things of this world- what we put in us and what we put on us. God is sovereign. God is benevolent. And humanity is the focus of both of those things.”

Jesus goes on to say that stewardship, a life of worship, is focused on God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. A life of stewardship is consumed with the godly kingdom purposes of our creation and calling. Focus on that and all of this other stuff, this important stuff, will find its proper perspective and place in our lives.

Stewardship is not about money, it's about the Kingdom of God.

Look to the lilly and the sparrow... "You see, he is making the birds our school masters and teachers. It is a great and abiding disgrace to us that in the Gospel a helpless sparrow should become the theologian and teacher to the wisest of men." -Martin Luther

Pastor Scott

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Sermon November 8 “Stewardship: The Irony of Giving” Part 1

We looked at two texts this week as we began a three week series on stewardship. Our New Testament text was Matthew 6:19-24. Here, Jesus speaks about money. He says two things about it primarily:
1. Your heart will be with your treasure- not the other way around.
2. You can’t love God and money at the same time. It’s impossible.
What it boils down to is idolatry. And what idolatry boils down to is worship. And that was the point of this first sermon on stewardship.

The first mistake many make when it comes to stewardship is that they make stewardship about money. In our culture that may be what it is about. But in scripture it never is. The first irony of stewardship is that it is not about money, it’s about worship. That’s why Jesus pointed beyond the treasure to the heart. God doesn’t need our money- but he desperately wants our heart.

And that is why Malachi 3:6-12 is so poignant. God tells his people through this prophet that they are robbing him. “How?” they ask. “In tithes and offerings!” God wants them brought to the temple. Why? Not because he needs the money but because he desires the worship. When their treasure comes to the temple their hearts come with it. They were robbing God of worship.

If we are not living out biblical stewardship through a life that revolves around bringing our first fruits to God (“the top dime”) then we will be deficient in our worship. And when our worship is deficient our lives will be empty. In Malachi, God challenges his people. “Test me in this” he says. “Try me! See if the floodgates of heaven aren’t opened up when you get stewardship right!”

(God’s floodgates are real. But this is not a prosperity gospel message- some kind of trumped up biblical-ese investment program in order to "get blessed" with money- because it’s not about the money; it’s about worship. If it’s not about the money in our stewardship then it won’t be about the money when the floodgates open. Money given to God for the sake of the financial return is not worship- it's worldliness.)

The challenge in this sermon was to those who may be robbing God of worship through deficient stewardship. Test God. See if he isn’t faithful to those who hearts are invested in him through the worship produced by a life of stewardship.

Pastor Scott

P.S. The children’s sermon involved a dollar broken down into a stack of dimes. “They are all God’s dimes. But he let me have them,” I suggested. It glorifies him when we give him one back. “Which dime does God want back?” I asked. “The biggest one!” a kid shouted. “The shiniest one.” another suggested. “The top one.” I told them. Stewardship is that simple. God is glorified by the top dime- pre taxes. Simple.

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Sermon November 1 "The Kingdom, The Church, and The Reformation"

What a wonderful Sunday yesterday! Reformation Sunday was celebrated in a single worship service with the welcoming of 17 new members. Providing music for our worship was our children’s choir, choir, organist, pianist, guitarist, bass player, drummer, praise team leaders, and a bag piper. All who lead us in contemporary worship songs and hymns as we celebrated not only our Reformation history but the continual work of reformation that Christ is doing in his church. Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda indeed!

My sermon text came from Matthew’s gospel, 13:31-35. Here Jesus speaks of the inbreaking kingdom of God using the image of a mustard seed planted in a field and a small amount of yeast mixed in with some dough. Jesus began his preaching ministry by proclaiming that God’s kingdom was at hand. Throngs of people gathered to discover what that meant.

And here Jesus tells them that if they are not careful they might miss it. Jesus doesn’t point to the cedars of Lebanon and say “the kingdom of God is like that!” He doesn’t point to a power wielding empire and say “the kingdom of God is like that!” He points to a seed that grows into a garden bush. He points to a lump of dough that is bigger in the morning.

The irony of the kingdom is at play in this parable. “God’s kingdom is here!” Jesus cried. God in flesh was standing right in front of them announcing “I’m here!” Where? They were looking for something a little more robust than a homeless teacher. The work of God’s kingdom swirls around us. God is present and he is at work building his kingdom right where you are right now. But we miss it. All we see are shrubs and leaven bread.

The sermon yesterday was a call to pay attention, to get involved in the day to day newness of God’s kingdom work. It rages around us looking like dirty stables and empty mangers, fishermen and folk tales, bushes and bread. We want to see God rip open the sky and prove himself to the world! All the while his kingdom work continues faithfully on while we wait around for the good stuff. Anybody up for a mustard sandwich?

Pastor Scott

P.S. I mentioned in my sermon (one of those unplanned insertions) that yeast was a bacteria. 9 year old Amelia was puzzled by this statement- knowing that yeast is actually a fungus. Oops! Thanks for the catch Amelia.