Sunday 08/05/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “The burden of the three wealths of a Christian”
Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Gospel Lesson: John 6:24-35
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning.
This morning, I want to talk to you about an area that can be tough to talk about for some Christians. Yet for all of us Christians we sometimes struggle with this three sided area, and sometimes feel that we are not doing enough for God in these three areas. These three areas are what I call the “three wealths of a Christian.” Perhaps now or at other points in our lives we have been burdened by all or some of these three wealths. You might be thinking right now, “will this sermon result in me getting wealthy?” Well if so, you might also now be saying, “I better pay close attention to the pastor this morning!” Well this sermon is not one of those infomercials on television on how to get rich quick! I am not selling a slicer and dicer, or a juicer, but rather, I am talking about our individual wealths as Christians. You might say then, “Well pastor why is your sermon titled “The burden of the three wealths of a Christian?”
Well, probably the best place for me to start is to explain what I mean when I say “the three wealths of a Christian.” What I mean by this, is one our individual time, two our God given gifts and talents, and three our total resources. This first wealth of our individual time is the time that we have given to us by God every day. Anybody here ever wasted time? I know I have wasted time! In fact, if the Summer Olympics had an event for this when I was teenager, I just might be a gold medalist today! Our second wealth is that of the gifts and talents that the Lord has given us. We can choose when and where we wish to use these gifts and talents. We could also unfortunately choose to not use these gifts and talents at all. Our third wealth of our resources isn’t just money, it is any wealth we have, property, cars, a house, and etc.
The burden for the Christian though, is when we seek to really and truly serve and follow God, is how do we best use our three Christian wealths? I am sure I am not the only one who has had this struggle, of how much time should I devote to God and His Church? “How much time I should devote to my family, the community, myself, charities, and so on,” you may ask? I am sure I am not the only one who has asked the question of “How much should I use my gifts and talents for God and His Church?” “How much should I use my gifts and talents for my family, the community, myself, charities, and so on,” you may ask? I am sure I am not the only one who has asked the question of “how much should I give monetarily to God and His church?” “Can I open up my home for church functions? “Can I use my wealth of resources this way?” “Can I temporarily house a missionary with my wealth of housing resources, if the missionary needs it?” “Can I use my wealth of an automobile to take someone to church?” “Do I sponsor one of those compassion international children that I see on the television screen, or do I give St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital?” “Do I give to the Red Cross, or do I give to the Salvation Army?” I am sure all of us have had, and continue as Christians to experience the burden of the three Christian wealths.
So just how much should we use our three Christian wealths? Are we not using them enough? Can I give more to God and His church, or more to other charitable causes? I have often heard these questions from congregation members in meetings in the various churches I have attended. Further, we all know that scripture says that “God loves a cheerful giver,” but this doesn’t always have to mean money. I would urge you to give whatever you give, because it has been decided between you and almighty God! For the one we serve is God, and the only one whom we are truly eternally accountable to is God!
Last Sunday I visited an older shut-in woman, and about 15-minutes before I was about to leave, she said “Oh wait pastor, I want to write a check for the church.” She said, “Do I give this to you?” I got so nervous and uncomfortable when she said this! I never considered for a single minute that any people I visited would ask me to take a check for the church. It literally never crossed my mind! My wife Melissa told me later, “Well Paul they are members of the church!” This warranted the typical husband response of “yes dear.” So being uncomfortable with this situation, I asked the woman’s son-in-law who was present to put the check in a sealed envelope. I said to the woman I am just going to put this check in the collection plate, as I wanted no part of the check. You see her giving, was between her and almighty God, not me! If you choose to give then, it should be because God has compelled you to do so, and I would argue for no other reason. In addition, to my time, gifts and talents, and resources that I give to God and His church, my wife and I also support missionaries in two different countries, we sponsor a Compassion International Child, and support a college campus minister. Am I telling you things for accolades and praises? No of course not, I tell you these things because my wife and I feel the Lord has called us to give and serve Him in these ways. You see Melissa and I don’t have to do what we do, but we do so because we feel the nudge of almighty God to do so.
After all, what could we possibly give to God that which He doesn’t already have? Does God honestly need our time, our gifts and talents, and our resources? Of course He doesn’t! You know I wonder sometimes, if this earthly life is just a big test? I wonder sometimes if God just wants to see what we will do with what he has given us. I mean if eternity is forever, than this life must be just a blip on the radar screen, shouldn’t it? What we do on this earth though, I believe, has eternal consequences. As our scripture reading in 2 Samuel talked about this morning, even the mighty King David misused his time, his gifts and talents, and his resources. When King David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed to posses and marry her, the Lord said to David but “I gave you your master’s house?” You see David, wasn’t content with what he had, and he needed more, even though God didn’t call him to that. Jesus in the gospel reading this morning spoke to some of the folks that he feed in His feeding of 5,000. Jesus said to them, as they came back to see him after eating the fish and bread “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” Why do we give of our time, gifts and talents, and resources? Do we expect God to just fill our bellies, and nothing more?
In a real sense then, do everything you do for His glory, and His name! Always start and end with almighty God! We ultimately are responsible to God and to God alone! I am reminded of the parable of Lazarus, who was a poor man covered in sores. Lazarus according to scripture was no criminal, but was just poor and destitute. He would sit outside the gates of the house of a rich man. In this parable, the rich man never helped Lazarus, never gave him a thing. I don’t think God wanted the rich man to give Lazarus all he had, and become destitute himself, but rather to give to the poor man, as God had given to him. You see Lazarus and the rich man died, and according to the scripture, Lazarus and Abraham went down to hell to see the rich man. The rich man was burning in agony and he asked Lazarus “to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue.” Abraham told the rich man that during Lazarus’ whole life he was suffering and was in pain, yet you allowed him to suffer when you could have helped him, and now Abraham said now “you are in great pain.”
In closing this morning brothers and sisters, I want to tell you a quick made up story about giving generously. A little girl in a church I was doing pulpit supply for approached her father at home after church, and brought him by the hand into her room. She then uncorked the bottom of her piggy bank and dumped out all of the coins and money. She said, “Daddy, I want to give all of this money to Pastor Paul.” The dad looking shocked, touched, and perplexed, said to his daughter, “Are you sure?” She said, “Yes daddy, I’m sure.” Well wouldn’t you know it the next time I filled in at that church, the little girl approached me after the service with a small little bucket of coins and money. “She said, here Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” Well as you can imagine my heart melted. I said to the little girl, “Honey you should save that for you,” and she replied “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” I said, “Honey surely there is charity, a needy family, or someone else who needs this money much more than I?” She just replied “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you.” I said, “Well maybe we can donate it to the food pantry?” She then said, “No Pastor Paul, this money is for you!” I finally said to the little girl, “Well ok, but why do you want me to have this money so bad?” She said well “Pastor Paul that’s simple. My daddy told me that you are the poorest that pastor that this church has ever had.”
You see that made up little girl was giving out of misunderstanding from her father, but we shouldn’t we all aspire to give like that? This week, I challenge you to pray and seek the direction of almighty God, as He and He along guides your giving of you time, your gifts and talents, and your resources! Amen.
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