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Text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 ~ Another word for God’s dream… “shalom” (wholeness; peace). God’s dream for peace (‘shalom’) has always involved transforming the individual, which, in turn, will allow for the restoration of the community and the systems/structures under which we live. ● In God’s dreams, he envisions broken things being put back together, people in bondage experiencing freedom, the impoverished having enough, maneuverability for the lame, blind people seeing what they’ve been missing… lost people being found! (with the emphasis never being on the cost of the search, but the extreme joy over the lost being found). Somehow those things are already a reality for God, but he must continue to paint the picture for us so that we might dream too; so that we might not get discouraged, or settle for the way things are. ● It’s about God’s ‘future’ coming to bear on our ‘present’ life. If God is really in the process of ‘recreating’ the world, it means that we can work toward making this a better place to live and be together. It means that all of our efforts are not in vain; that what we do in/for the kingdom come now, will somehow translate into the kingdom come. ~ There is both a ‘personal’ and ‘political’ dimension to Christianity. ‘political’ [from the Greek, “polis”, which means ‘city’]; the life of the city is the people and the structures which order their lives (not buildings and infrastructures, but the way people ‘are together’). ~ “Kingdom of God”… shorthand for what life would be like if God were King; if God’s desires/passions were the order of the day! Therefore, our systems/structures (ways of being together) must be the best possible reflection of God’s dreams; God’s passions. The Greek word for ‘house’ (oikos) is the root of our word ‘economy’. It means that we are to understand our role as a steward in God’s house; managing resources in a manner consistent with his desires (this is God’s world; God’s story!) We must ask ourselves, then,… “What are the principles/values which govern the economic systems under which we live? Whose interests do they serve? Are they inclusive (not limited to the wealthiest small percentage); do they extend opportunity?” ● All of life is ‘sacred’; it may be ‘common’ (shared), but it’s not ‘ordinary’. This is all “God’s space”; we should expect our lives to intersect with him in every facet of life. Often, our assumption is… The Bible is all about love and mercy and money… that’s real world stuff! We should stick to “grace and heaven” and let the more complicated and practical issues of high finance to the Wall Street Journal! I’m convinced that Jesus was more in touch with reality than anyone who ever lived; that his way of life addressed the entire spectrum of what it meant to be fully human. ► Money is not neutral. ● It may be morally neutral in that, in and of itself, it is neither good nor evil, but our determinations will have decided impact on its effect on our lives. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (riches; wealth as an evil influence; Money God- personification). It’s about ‘devotion’; devotion is about what orders your pursuits and choices; establishes commitments. It’s really not even about the actual accumulation of wealth, but about what our life is devoted to. ● Jesus viewed money as a serious ‘rival’ for our affection and attention. He knew that captured our attention would soon capture our hearts! ● I don’t think Jesus’ intention was to offer us decisive instruction to gauge every purchase, but he did intend that our relationship with him would properly shape our affections and order our lives. Do this: take your home’s annual yearly income and multiply it by (50) years- allowing for college and the time spent after college living in your parent’s basement! “What did you come up with?” Surprised? Depressed? Even if a household income is $30,000.00 per year, over that (50) years, you would have been responsible for $1.5 million dollars. “Price is Right”: the person’s success was contingent upon their ability to determine the value of a particular item. IF YOU GO OVER, YOU LOSE! Here’s the real DANGER: it’s about attaching the ‘wrong price tag’ to our possessions. ● Jesus simply said that we should be aware of the “deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for things” (Mark 4:19). Deceitful because they are not a good representation of ‘realty’. “Freely you have received, freely give”. Matthew 10:8 So, at the risk of stating the obvious,… ► Giving is a response to having received. Our ability to ‘freely give’ will be contingent upon our understanding that we have ‘freely received’ (‘freely’- literally “undeservedly”). Until I understand my place in God’s household, I will never be able to truly ‘receive’ anything. 1 Chronicles 29:14 “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” Exodus 19:5 “… the whole earth is mine”. Haggai 2:8 “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty”. Psalm 100:3 “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;…” Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…” Stewardship is not something we do for God with our money, but something we do for others with his money. “…freely you have received…” ► God is a ‘giver’. The emphasis is not on the gift, but on the generosity of the giver! The point is not to make sure that we understand our “place”, but that we might share his delight in giving. He wants you to experience the same joy that he does when he gives; he wants you to share his heart (i.e. it’s why as parents we buy presents for our spouse and let the kids say it’s from them!) ► Frankly, it’s really hard to receive. The reality is, I am always more comfortable with giving. Why? When I give, I need to feel responsible! I need, at the very least, acknowledgement, and, if possible, some compensatory response. ● In order to receive, I must… … renounce self-sufficiency (I’m not the source), … accept responsibility/accountability (for managing someone else’s resources), … reject the notion of entitlement. Typically, a sense of entitlement is also associated with ‘ingratitude’ (no one to thank) and ‘resentment’ (is this all there is?) ► I have found that the things of true value in my life are the things which I have been given. Why? Because those things always endear (connect) me to the ‘giver’. As I enjoy those things, I can’t help but being reminded of the generosity and thoughtfulness of the giver… and I am thankful. ● Gratitude is what distinguishes us from all the other “takers”! Interestingly, in the Greek, ‘gratitude’ and ‘grace’ share the same root word; they are inseparable. ► You can’t really give what’s not yours to begin with. If gratitude is my response to God for having received, generosity is my response toward others in learning to give. ● In my own experience, I have found that there are (2) conditions which will never guarantee generosity: 1) Guilt- wait for the ‘bad feeling’ to go away! 2) Surplus- surplus postpones generosity because, after all, ‘I’m going to need it one-of-these-days’! ● But, we really can only give freely that which we feel doesn’t belong to us! When I’m giving away something that belongs to someone else, I feel no sense of constraint; no sense of loss. I have no need to retain it for fear of being deprived. I’m no longer compelled to see things in terms of ‘profit/loss’, but ‘receiving/giving’. For the remainder of our consideration, let’s describe ‘stewardship’ as…
Using God-given resources for God-designed
purposes. |
