EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY: TIME The word “stewardship” comes from the Greek word “oikonomia” (oy-kon-om-ee’-ah). It’s where we get our word “economy.” It means to manage, administer and oversee someone else’s estate or household. In the Book of Genesis, God gave human beings our first job--to be good stewards of creation. When we practice good stewardship, we are obediently taking care of God’s world until Christ returns. The giving of tithes--10% of our income An important point for all of us to remember is that stewardship is about more than money: It’s about being extravagantly generous with our Time (attendance), Talent (ability/skill) as well as our Treasure (money). Our theme comes from Bishop Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. On page 120 he writes, “Extravagantly Generous churches do more than encourage, teach and support personal generosity. They practice extraordinary generosity as a congregation…by supporting connectional ministries, special projects and missions in their community and throughout the world.” Amen. Today’s stewardship focus is on TIME. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 teaches that everything under heaven has a time and purpose. God gives each of us time to use as we please. Well, actually, for six days we are to righteously take care of our business and pleasures, and on the seventh day, God commands the Sabbath for holy rest: sacred time to worship God and replenish the mind, body and spirit. There are seven days in every a week, at least one of those is to be dedicated to God. In today’s text, Genesis 29, we have an example of a man loving a woman so much he works 14 years so she can be his wife. 14 years. That’s being extravagantly generous with your time. Verse 20 says, “The time he labored for Rachel was like a few days because of the love he had for her.” The motivation for Jacob willingly giving of his time was love. How is your love for God demonstrated by the stewardship of your time? What part of your day is spent worshiping and working for God? One hour? 1/2 hour? 10 minutes? No time at all? Think about it. When you love God coming to worship isn’t a chore, it’s a joy. You long for that opportunity to be in his presence. There’s something about gathering with other lovers of Jesus Christ that grounds you in this crazy world, and brings peace to your stressed-out soul. There’s something about serving on a ministry team or committee that lifts your spirit. There’s something about being a part of a small group like a Sunday school or Wednesday Night Live class that increases your faith. There’s something about belonging to a missions-based group like UMW or UMM or Empowering Women that reinforces your love for God and his people. You worship and work in servant hood because you appreciate all that he’s done for you. Not because it’s expected. You don’t share your spiritual gifts, skills and talents because the church needs your abilities. We do need your abilities, but we share because we love God. You don’t give tithes, offerings and pledges because the church has bills to pay, and believe me the church does have bills to pay—more than $1400 every month just for utilities—but that’s not why we give. It’s because we love God and we need to give back. “For God so loved the world he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have ever lasting life,” John 3:16. This is why we give, because he gives unmerited love to us. Listen to this passage from The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, p127, titled, “The Best Expression of Love is Time.” I recently spoke to someone who said every Sunday in their home they use to discuss whether or not they would go to church, go back to bed or read the newspaper while lingering over a cup of coffee. But when they became serious about growing spiritually in the Lord, the discussion ceased. They got up every Sunday and automatically came to church. Do you get the point? When your relationship with God becomes just another option, you become estranged from God and his people. Your time becomes just that, “YOUR TIME” not God’s. And one day you become so comfortable in your priority of personal convenience that you forget all about the importance of prayer, Bible study, Holy Communion, Baptism, Christian Conversation, fasting, and other means of grace. Armand Lienard reminded me of a familiar illustration. It’s an answer to stay-at-home Christians and others who say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. You can stay at home and watch a church service on TV or walk in the backyard. But take a piece of wood from a burning fireplace. When you first remove it, it’s hot, fiery and glowing. As it sits alone it becomes cold, colorless and dead. Like that burning ember, we need the fellowship, the coming together to nurture one another’s faith in order to stay “on fire” for God. Assembling together on a regular basis keeps us from, as Bishop Schnase preached, “Nibbling Our Way Lost.” We can’t build up the kingdom of God alone. We can’t have a closer walk with God while thumbing our nose at his son’s church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus rewards Peter for being the first human being to publicly declare him as the Messiah. He says, ”You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” Followers of Christ do not have the option of saying, “I will follow you Jesus by ignoring your church.” You can’t help yourself or others become stronger in the Lord if you aren’t here. You can’t study the Bible and get something other than your own personal interpretation of scripture if you aren’t giving and receiving knowledge among new and mature Christians. To those who say you don’t need to worship with other believers in Christ ask them, “Can you be a Christian and disobey God’s word?” Hebrews 10:25 reminds us not to neglect assembling ourselves together….” In 1 Corinthians 12:26-27, Paul says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” Christians are a community of shared believers, a church family. Matthew 18:20 says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” Hear what Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York is quoted saying in Perfect Illustrations, (editors, PreachingToday.com, p305). Supporting the church with our prayers, presence, gifts and service is every baptized believer’s ministry, not just the same faithful 20% who do most of church work. (Read Yes, Lord I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses by James W. Moore, bottom p84). 1 Peter 4:10 says, "Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” You can willingly come up on a Saturday and help distribute good, inexpensive food through Angel Food Ministries like Georgiann Jensen, Margie Rogers, Mary Bess and other adults and kids did yesterday. Or you can choose never to serve in any way related to God’s church helping people.
At the beginning of this message, I told you that being a good steward means to manage, administer and oversee God’s house until Jesus returns for us. I challenge you to reflect on this one thought all next week: You cannot take care of God’s house if you don’t come to worship, study and serve. Let’s pray, “Most Generous and Loving God, We thank you for giving us time to live and love in this life. We especially thank you for your son Jesus, who gave his all for us so that we will live eternally. Because of your extravagant generosity, we promise to joyfully give our TIME, TALENT & TREASURE with grateful hearts. Amen.” |