"Cross Over"
By Dr. Mickey Anders
First Christian Church
Pikeville, Kentucky
September 12, 1999
Text: Exodus 14:19-31
Today is Stewardship Sunday, and I could have left the lectionary studies to pick a special Scripture related to stewardship. But after I thought about it, I decided to use this passage as a springboard for the message because this passage describes the response of the Israelites to the amazing deliverance of God. Stewardship is essentially our response to just such an encounter with God. We offer our gifts in gratitude for the deliverance that God has provided for us.
Since our last installment of the continuing saga of the Children of Israel, God has wreaked havoc on the Egyptians by taking the firstborn of every household. In this tenth and final plague, only those households with blood on the doorposts were spared. This plague proved too much for Pharaoh, so he agreed to let the people of Israel go. But no sooner had they left town, than he changed his mind and sent his armies out to retrieve his cheap labor source.
Then God set up camp between the Egyptian armies and the people of Israel so that they would have time to cross the Red Sea. Some ancient Jewish scholars suggest that the Red Sea did not part until they put their foot into the water. God responded to this act of faith by rolling up the waters on either side so that the people of Israel could walk through on dry land. But when the Egyptian armies tried to follow them, the waters crashed in upon their chariots.
The writer then gives this wonderful conclusion to the story in verses
30 and 31:
"Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel
saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work
that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the
Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses."
Today I want us to focus on the fact that the people saw the great work of the Lord, and they responded. They "feared the Lord and believed..."
There are many motives for giving; some are better than others. The best motive is to give as an act of believing and in response to the mighty acts of God. But many people give from the wrong motives. Yes, that's right, there are many wrong reasons to give.
Perhaps the worst reason to give is out of guilt. Someone in another church once said, "Our church gives us just two choices when it comes to giving: give or feel guilty!" I hope no one ever feels that way about our church. Many people fear Stewardship Sunday because they think that is the time when the preacher is supposed to make everybody feel guilty for not giving more money to the church. In my opinion, guilt is the worst motivator for Christian stewardship. I don't want you to feel guilty about your giving to the God's work. I want you to feel good about it.
The second worst reason to give is because the church needs it. Now that will sound like a strange statement to most of you because most people think that's the only reason to give. And this may be a little difficult to explain because it is always true that the church needs it. This church could not survive without your gifts. But, more importantly, we need it. We need to give as a response to the wonderful acts of God. In the Bible, giving is always an act of generous response to God's love and God's actions of deliverance.
There's a subtle difference here; and a Scriptural one. I don't believe you can show me a single scripture that says we should give to God because God needs it. The fact is God doesn't need it. God is no helpless beggar on the streets with a cup asking for donations to survive. God can get his work done in this world with or without First Christian Church of Pikeville. God will get his work done in this world. The question is - Do we want to be a part of it or not?
And that question highlights one of the key words in my whole theology of life and faith. That word is "want." Do we want to be a part of it? Do we want to believe in God? Do we want to serve God? Do we want to make decisions for God? Do we want to give more to God's work?
I guess I struggled for many years with the "ought to's" of religion. There seem to be a lot of things we ought to do. But "ought to's" are always a burden. Real faith comes when we find ourselves wanting to do the things we ought to do. There is a huge difference... especially in stewardship.
Yes, you ought to give. Yes, the church needs your gifts, especially right now. But a healthy positive atmosphere of generosity only comes when we give because we want to give because we want to be a part of God's work in this world. We want to see this church provide excellent ministries to this community. We want to support this church because we love God, and we love this church. Now that is an excellent motivation for giving.
A growing and healthy church will create a positive atmosphere of generosity. My intention is to give every one of you a healthy understanding of stewardship that is not motivated by negative reasons, but by positive and healthy reasons.
How do we grow people with a healthy attitude toward stewardship? Well, the first answer to that question is education. We must teach people to have a positive attitude about stewardship, and we can only do that by talking about it and teaching the Biblical principles of stewardship. Perhaps the second answer is contained in the question itself - we must grow them. That means every one of us must grow in our understanding of stewardship and we must grow in our practice of stewardship.
We start that process with the children. Children all start out
saying, "Mine! Mine!" They go through that stage where they love
to proclaim, "My pencil. My toy. My doll." Good parents
work with their children to teach them how to be generous and how to share.
Christian parents also teach their children how to share with God.
They give their children a quarter to put in the offering plate.
There is still that within children which will want to say, "My quarter."
So we have to teach them to give willingly.
A few years ago, we were having a stewardship campaign in a church
in Arkansas, and we were using pledge cards as a part of the campaign.
We sent pledge cards for every member of the family, including the children.
Someone complained about that by asking, "Is the church so desperate for
money that we have to give pledge cards to children?" The answer
of course was, "No, children are not asked to give because we need their
quarters so desperately. Children are asked to give because it teaches
them how to be generous with God." You see, the same thing is true
for adults. We have to learn to be generous with God. We give
not because the church needs it, but because we need it.
Teenagers have to learn to tithe from their allowance. Again, it is not so much because the church needs their few dollars, but because teenagers need to learn not to spend all their money on themselves. A modern teenager may have more discretionary money than many adults. After all, every bit of their money is discretionary. That's the time they need to decide if they are going to be like children crying, "Mine! Mine!" Or if they are going to say that some of this money is "Thine! Thine!"
Young married couples have to make important decisions about their money. Differences in attitudes about money cause as much conflict in young marriages as any other single item. And young marrieds are often strapped for money. They have very little discretionary money. Sometimes they have huge debts and often get themselves into serious financial difficulties. For many of them, the financial burdens of getting a household started and having small children makes it very difficult for them to give.
That's when people decide to give something rather than nothing. That's such an important commitment in our growing understanding of stewardship. Even people who cannot afford to give can give something. And they should feel good about giving something, however, small it may be.
They learn that stewardship isn't just about giving. It's about getting out of debt, accumulating wealth, using money, and finding joy in one's financial condition. This is when people learn that they can't wait until the end of the month and see if they have any money left for the church because there is never any left. They realize that they have to decide what they want to give and make it a priority. They decide that they will make God a priority and give something on a regular basis to their church. It may not be much, but they have made a decision to acknowledge God by giving something regularly. This is one of the first steps in learning to give.
Then as this couple grows older they grow in the grace of giving. When they started giving, their gift to God may have represented a movie and a dinner out. But they have come to realize that God means more to them than a night out on the town. They have decided that the appropriate response of faith is disciplined giving. They recall the words of Paul when he said, "Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income." And this family decides to give a proportion, a percentage of their income. It may not be 10% at first. It may be 3%. And with the passage of time, that proportion grows. And they realize that what once seemed hard to give is in fact hardly missed.
This couple decides to steadily increase the percentage of giving. At first ten percent of their income seemed like an impossible dream, but over time they steadily work toward that goal.
Finally, this family becomes a tithing family, and they realize that God's church has become the focus of their lives. They realize the truth of Jesus' words, "Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also" (Matthew 6:21). They are pleased that they have grown in the grace of giving over the years. And now they are able to make a worthy gift to God's work. They find deep satisfaction in knowing that their gifts make a real difference in the work of the church. They have found that the tithe is an investment. The more they put in, the more they get out.
But there is one more lesson that many families learn about giving. They will learn that the tithe is not the end of stewardship. These families already give generously, but they share the dreams which built this church and have a desire to sustain it into the future. They have found a way to give even more. They give second-mile gifts to missions and to special projects around the church. These are the folks who support the Endowment Fund through charitable gift annuities or by including the church in their wills and estates. You see, faithful stewardship doesn't end when we put our offering envelope in the plate. It doesn't even have to end at the end of our lives. These people have become visionary providers. They have learned to make a gift that will give forever.
That's how we grow stewards and create an atmosphere of generosity. It takes time for people to grow in their understanding of stewardship. And it takes decision-making.
In preparation for this sermon, I asked the Financial Secretary to send you a statement of your giving to the church so far this year. Please don't misunderstand this as an effort to make you feel guilty about what you haven't given. Rather I ask that you use this as an opportunity to decide where you want to be on the continuum of giving. And to ask yourselves, "Are you happy with where you are in your giving?"
Then I want you to think about your experience with God. Think about his mighty works. Think about the time he helped the people of Israel cross the Red Sea on dry land. They responded with a sense of awe and worship. How will you respond?
Don't give because you feel guilty. Don't give just because the church needs it. Don't give because you ought to. Decide what you want to do and give gratefully and joyfully. Remember, "God loves a cheerful giver."