rich’s blog

Preface: 

Well.

 

It’s nice to be up here again, you know, me & my Jesus sandals. I missed this stool; I would actually come sit on it for a few minutes each week, just to keep our relationship healthy.  I’m really kidding.  weird.

 

Seriously, though, it’s an honor to speak to you all, as usual.  Today we are starting a new series that will carry us through much of the summer.  I’m calling it “Talk Amongst Yourselves,” which is an obtuse 90s Saturday Night Live reference, but also makes the point: we’re talking about stuff that Christians should talk about.  Church stuff, right?

 

Not too long ago, we spent time talking about the way our faith should inform how we interact with things the world is talking about.  Technology, Sex, great big cultural shifts, stuff like this.  And of course, our lives are tied w/ all that stuff, too.

 

But this series is insider talk.  It’s a “christiany” church stuff series.  Which basically means we’ll talking about the stuff we either never talk about, but really should, or the stuff we complain about all the time.

 

I Hope.

And I hope this series will be just as compelling for those who aren’t christians as it for those of us who are, because it’s always neat to listen in on a conversation, rigth?  And I hope that by the end of the summer we’ll be positioned to talk about church stuff in healthy constructive ways, instead of divisive or just indifferent ways.  And I hope especially that we can discuss things like today’s topic authentically, biblically, and practically.

 

And “today’s topic” is “tithing.”  In quotes.  I know, calm down: we’ve got to contain our joy and excitement for just a second while I pray.  Then we can cheer together.

 

Prayer:

oh Jesus, please. I don’t know what to say on this stuff.  I don’t know what to say on this stuff at all.  And I find myself reticent to do or be or do be do be do…rh

 

Introduction: 

I have been a Christian long enough to know that listening to sermons on cash is sort of scaled in between getting a speeding ticket and having someone punch my face.

 

And each of us carries an obstacle course of stuff that has to be addressed before we’re able to even hear anything I might have to say about today’s topic.

 

Logistics: 

But this isn’t just today’s topic. It’s also next week’s.

Because as I prepared for today, I realized that this obstacle course of stuff that we Christians can carry around is a big one.  There are a lot of things that get in the way of us hearing some preacher?or a particular one, right, me?talk about money.

 

And I remember when I tried to preach thoroughly & creatively on John 3:16, and I know that the part that we could stay awake for was well-received, but it got a little long.  Plus, I haven’t preached for a while, so, you know, I don’t want to put us to sleep for at least a few weeks.

 

So we’re splitting what was really ending up as a too-long message into a couple of shorter ones.  Is that cool with everyone?  If its not, come to the conflict class this morning & we can deal with it. Kidding.

 

Today: 

So what we’ll do today is look at this obstacle course of stuff–preconceptions, previous experiences, different emotions–that gets in the way of us paying any attention at all to a message about cash.

 

I’ll review a number of passages that relate to “tithing,” but we won’t spend a lot of time?much at all, really?talking about them.  That will be for next week.

 

And next week, as we look at Scripture and some of the things it says to us, I think we’ll not only address some of today’s obstacles, but also, if we’re open to it, be positioned to think differently about the interaction between our wallets & the church.

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 

We’re talking about money, we’ve got to talk about money, most of our lives are spent getting and spending money. If we are going to follow Jesus, we have to talk about money.  When you get baptized your wallet gets baptized too.  So I’m talking about it.

 

And it’s not that big a deal to talk about, right?  We’ve talked about things more sensitive than this in the past, and we will talk about things more sensitive than this in the future.

 

A helpful metaphor: 

I was trying to think of a good metaphor for this, this need for us to talk about financial giving, and talk about it well, and I was thinking that deciding not to talk about it, is sort of like choosing to only go to the bathroom in the dark.

 

You could just talk about money; could just turn on the lights when you go into the bathroom.  Instead, we avoid talking about it, talking about giving or tithing or the like, and muster our way through life, hoping everything works out okay.

 

So if anyone thinks I have an agenda this morning, you are totally right on: but it’s not to get you to put more money in the offering basket; it’s just to speak frankly for a while.  Cool?

 

The OC: Suspicious 

“OC” stands for obstacle course.  We’re talking about obstacles that keep us from even hearing a pastor talk about money.  Now, “The OC” is also the name of a once-popular, now-ended TV series about rich california teenagers.  So.

 

I am not a rich californian, or a teenager.

 

But I am a full-time, paid pastor.  And you all pay my salary, right?  And we know it.  And what can often happen is that we can feel like any pastor who is talking to us about money is as concerned that he or she get a paycheck as he or she is concerned we learn some biblical truth, internalize it and live it out.

 

This is a credibility question, right? We can’t help but be a little suspicious that if the pastor encourages us to give–especially to the church he or she is pastoring–then really, there’s a conflict of interest there, the voice just isn’t credible.  And this can become an obstacle to us hearing the message.

 

We, here, may not think about this at all; but a lot of Christians do.

 

And we all know stories, or are sure that there are stories, of pastors who are just really, really wealthy.  And that strikes us as weird, and hypocritical–because of course, pastors take vows of poverty–and we’ve heard stories of pastors stealing cash, being greedy.  Pastoral credibility, as far as it relates to money, is not high in the world or really in the church.

 

So. While I’ll talk specifically about why it’s important to give to Smoky Row this morning, let me say this:

 

I don’t want us to give generously & freely to Smoky Row so that I can earn a paycheck.  It’s nice; but it’s not the reason we’re talking about this today.

 

My paycheck does some great things; it positions me to serve you all quickly, with all of myself.  It is a blessing, and I am thankful for it.  But I bet I could get a job elsewhere and still be a pastor; I just wouldn’t be able to do nearly anything as much as we all would want me to do.

 

So maybe we can avoid this obstacle, if it’s one we face–this whole idea that the pastor is looking out for number one–and we can avoid getting blocked by it the way this guy does. (picture)

 

The OC: She Works Hard for the Money

This heading is a work of art; two stale pop-culture references in one go.  It’s amazing.

 

We work hard for the money, right?  We work hard for the money.  One major obstacle that we have to deal with if we are going to talk about giving money is the fact that our default mentality is “mine.”  This is my money.  I earned it.  And, by extension, I can do what I want with it.

 

And adding to this, we are consumers.  We want good value for our money when we spend it the way we want to spend it, right?  This isn’t a surprise.  We want value for our money, don’t we?  I’m hanging out here until I get a response.  We do!  We do!  We want value.

 

And the reality is that for many of us–maybe not you, but some other Christian–the church is not the central thing in our lives.  We aren’t usually by default church-oriented; we have clubs we’re a part of, groups we’re a part of, work & school & hobbies & all sorts of communities that we Christians turn to before turning to the church.  Reggie talked about generational differences last week, and we’ve discussed them before, and this situation is especially common for those my age and younger.

 

My point here is that we Christians can often value other groups more than we value the church, and of course, in a world in which we have only so much to give, we wise consumers will give to that which we value most.

 

And this is a symptom of a fragmented, mobile, highly-networked society, it’s an obstacle I can’t “fix,” and it’s not one I’m out to “fix,” so much as one that some of us might really need to think about:

 

What does it mean for us if we, when we’re gut level honest with ourselves, discover that we simply don’t value church all that much?

 

It could be a discomforting frustration that positions us for transformational engagement with our community, with Smoky Row, right?  Again: right now we’re just talking obstacles.  And this one is a tricky mix of feeling like we can do whatever we want with our money, and the truth that we may sometimes not value the product the church provides enough to support it financially.

 

But we should wonder, if this is an obstacle for us, why we believe the money is ours, and what we really believe about the church.

 

We could, in fact, use this obstacle in a really constructive way, like this lady. (picture) It could help us instead of hinder us, right, as we engage with what we discover about ourselves.  

 

The OC: Practiced Generosity

Another obstacle to hearing a message like today’s is simply the fact that some of us are very generous with our money, and on some level we’re aware of it.

 

We make sure that we always have money to give when it’s needed, we look out for ways we can provide for those with needs, we’ve practiced generosity until it’s just part of who we are, and so we become not generous with just our treasure, but also our time and our talents.

 

We love the church.  Or we’re dutiful people.  But we give all the time: and so, when someone tries to talk to us about giving cash….we know that the message isn’t for us, and so we check out.  Or more subtle, and worse, we get offended–doesn’t this pastor know how giving I am?  I have an examined personal theology about giving.  What does this guy want from me?  A leg?

 

Let’s duck this obstacle. (Picture) 

 

The OC: Not for me: 

Tied with this, though, very closely.  Is the fact that some of us just think that this message is irrelevant.  We’ve decided in our minds that because of x, y, and z, giving financially isn’t required of us.

 

But part of the life of the Christian is to examine with some regularity the conclusions we’ve already made.

 

We Brethren come out of a historic group of events and period of time called the “Radical Reformation.”  And one key component of the reformers was to be a church that was always reforming, revisiting conclusions and behaviors they’ve accepted as normal, and testing them with scripture.

 

And I’m pretty sure that the phrase “Radical Reformation” means that Brethren are supposed to be totally rad at doing this.  Don’t ask a historian if I’m right.

 

picture: A historian

 

The OC: Worn Out

A basic obstacle to us hearing a message about “tithing” is simply exhaustion.

 

Some of us just don’t have all that much money; we don’t have much in the way of financial resources.

 

And when those of us who fall into these groups think we’re going to be asked for money, asked to give, again or more: we have an emotional response.  We don’t even have to be asked; if we think we might, we respond by shutting down, or getting aggressive, or excusing ourselves.

 

Not because we’re jaded, not because we’re bitter; but simply because the emotional weight of having to say no wears us out.  And we are asked to give money all the time in this society of ours.  It’s too much.  Our lives feel complicated, and we don’t have time to explain ourselves; all we know is that we can’t give, and don’t want to be asked.  And even if we give of our time or our talent it doesn’t feel like it’s enough.

 

And we’re less likely to dodge this obstacle than to just let it run us over.  But Scripture has so much to say about those who have little being the ones who change the world.

 

I’m out of pictures

 

Making Assumptions, One Christian at a Time 

I’m spending a lot of time here just setting up the obstacles, right?

 

But way too often, as Christians, we try and talk about “church stuff” as if we’re each coming to an issue from the same set of experiences and  perspectives, as though we share the same obstacles.

 

But it’s not best practices.  And especially when we’re talking about money, and giving to the church—things which are so often considered private and off-limits—we need to clear the air.

 

So let me mention one more obstacle and then we’re going to take a moment to allow ourselves just to be saturated with Scripture, soak ourselves with some passages that relate to the intersection of cash & giving.

 

The OC: Confusion

Here’s the last obstacle: sometimes we can confuse giving to the church with giving to God.  We collapse the big huge thing that giving can be into a small thing called “tithing.”

 

And “tithing,” is a word that means a tenth; no more, no less.  We can always give more; it’s a little hard to “tithe” more, right?  You can double your tithe, triple it, zero that sucker out: but 11% and 9% are not a “tithe.” Which is why we take an offering.

 

But our terminology, how we talk about the offering basket & what goes on during the offeratory–it can decrease clarity, can sometimes become an obstacle for us.

 

i’m running out of pictures

 

Summary

So.

 

We’ve talked about a lot of obstacles that get in the way of us really hearing any message that might talk at all about giving cash to a church.  Some of them may be obstacles for you, some of them might not be.

 

I’m sure there are others that I’ve left unmentioned.

 

What I’d like to do now, if it’s cool with everybody, is just read a small sampling of passages that speak to some of these obstacles.  Again; there are others.

 

As I read these passages, which we aren’t going to talk about today, I want us to begin to form some thoughts on them, begin to think about how these connect with the particular obstacles we face, consider these passages in a fresh way, if we haven’t before.

 

Does this make sense.  Just listen now; invite the Holy Spirit to begin a conversation in your heart, that maybe you can have with others, about your own patterns of giving, the resistance you feel if you think someone’s making a move for your wallet, anything that came to mind when you found out what we were talking about today.

 

A Time of Reflection 

 

Hebrews 13:5-6 NASB

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”

 

2 cor 9:6-15 NIV

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 

  “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; 

      his righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

 

Matt 6:1-4, 19-21, 24-25, 31-34 TNIV

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

Mark 12:41-44 tniv:

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

 

one more:

 

Colossians 3:17 NIV

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 

 

Conclusion:

References to these passages, and others, are on a handout in your bulletin.  It didn’t accidentally fall in there.

 

It would be great if we could use some of our time this coming week to reflect on one or two of these passages before the Lord.

 

It would be great if we could use some of our time this coming week to think about the obstacles we face when it comes to hearing someone else talk about “tithing.”

 

What response do we have? Why? What obstacles do we carry around inside us that make us react so strongly to this topic in particular?

 

So today is an introduction sort of day.  Next week we’ll finish the conversation that we’ve started.  Look forward to it. Pray for it. Until then; watch those wallets.