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Stephen Ministry

We are in the midst of our season of financial stewardship with Consecration Sunday coming next Sunday, that day when we all make a commitment to what we will financially give to the church next year. I cannot think of a worst time, in my lifetime, to be asking people to consider what they will give to the church next year. Normally, this is my favorite time of year…for many reasons. It is a season of beautiful colors as, in the rhythm of God’s creation, trees begin the transition from the growth of spring and summer to the hibernation of fall and winter. It is a season when my utility bill is lower—the need for air conditioning has ended and the need for heating not yet arrived. It is a great time of year for sports—the Broncos are playing and baseball is into the playoffs. It is the time of year for my birthday (October 17^th)! And let’s not forget, it is Pastor Appreciation Month! I’m pretty sure that is the invention of someone who left the ministry and started working for Hallmark cards. Or vise versa. And…and it is the season for the church’s financial stewardship campaign. Normally, I love that time of year as well as I, along with you, examine my relationship with Christ and give consideration to the privileged question, what percentage of my income is God leading me to give to the work of His Kingdom through this church? Normally, I love this time of year. And, while all those other things are going on per usual—the colors are changing, the weather is pleasant, Broncos and baseball playoffs are underway, my birthday is coming (October 17^th), and it is Pastor Appreciation Month—it is a terrible time to conduct a financial stewardship campaign. The slide in the financial markets has brought concern and anxiety, a lack of confidence and, yes, even fear. I’ve even wistfully wondered if we couldn’t postpone Consecration Sunday for awhile. Or maybe not even have one at all, just move into next year on faith! But, no, we are going to move forward. And that time of reflection that is always a part of this process is now magnified by the current financial situation. But, if in this process of reflection—and the current financial situation—we fix our eyes upon Jesus, which we ought to be doing anyway, what might he lead us to see?

I think first and foremost, winding through all of our reflection in this season, is the question of who or what do we trust. Is it ultimately in our financial portfolios that we trust? Or is it in the living and present Lord that we trust? This time of reflection in this season of life can help answer the question, where are your treasures. Are they on earth? Or are they in heaven? And by "heaven," I believe Jesus means more than some future destination, he means in this life with God. Are our treasures on earth, or are they with God?

For the Christian, the answer must be in heaven, with God. That is not to say financial planning and the results of your planning are a bad thing. It’s just not your treasure. It’s not where your heart should be. It’s not your Master. For one thing, Jesus wants to protect us from the inevitable disappointment of earthly treasures. Eventually, nature’s corrosion, or time’s corrosion, or human corrosion—moths, or rust, or thieves—will consume your earthly treasure. Not so with heavenly treasure. Not so with a life that is focused first and foremost upon a relationship with God. Where your treasure is…where your focus is…where your goals are directed…where your investments are pointing, there will your heart be also. In this season of stewardship, especially in this season of stewardship, it is a time to reflect upon where we ultimately place our trust and confidence. Who or what is our Master? Where are our hearts?

I think there are other questions that Jesus would have us consider also in this season of stewardship. If Jesus is going to take this nightmare of a time and bring good out of it, we need to be asking some other questions as well.

For one thing, we need to be asking ourselves what is the foundation for our life…and implied within that is the foundation for our finances—and extending out from there, our economy. Related to the question of trust, what is the foundation upon which we build our lives and, more specifically for this season, what is the foundation for our finances and for our economy? Capitalism is a great economic system—I think that’s been proven over the last 200 years or so. But its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The freedom and incentive for building wealth inherent within capitalism can also lead to greed. And we have seen over the past few weeks the ugly results of greed. The strengths of our economic system must be tempered by Christian principles of serving others and concern for the poor or we will simply find ourselves in this mess again. If the foundation of Christ has eroded away anywhere—and surely it has in our economic system as well as our social mores in general—it is an indication of where we have failed: "we" as the Church universal; we as the church particular, Shepherd of the Hills; and we as Christians individually. We have failed to get the word out about the foundation of Christian principles for our lives. We have failed to live it out before others so they might see it and desire it for their lives as well. We have failed to hold leadership, and CEO’s, and Boards of Directors accountable for how they temper the strengths of our capitalism system so that it doesn’t become weak due to greed. If the foundation of Christian principles have eroded away, it is a sign where we, first of all, have failed. I believe in this season of reflection, Christ would want us to see where we have allowed the foundation of Christ and Christian principles for life in general, and our economy in particular, to erode away leading to the circumstances we now find ourselves in. If Christ is going to bring any good out of this situation, we must see that and determine to correct that.

I also think that if Christ is going to bring any good out of the situation we find ourselves in, he would want our eyes to take in a longer view than we have been seeing. By that I mean, first of all, we must see things in a much more global awareness than we’ve been doing. To begin with, even in a falling market we have much more than the rest of the world. There are billions of people throughout the world living on $2 a day. That’s $14 a week, $60 a month, $730 a year. Even in a tumbling market we have much to be grateful for. We ought not forget that. Additionally, our global awareness must take into account our responsibility with the blessings given to us. The blessings are not for our benefit alone. If we are to rebuild our economy, undergirded by the foundation of Christian principles Jesus Christ calls us to, we must seek to bring to others the blessings God pours out upon us. In a teaching about stewardship, about followers of Jesus Christ taking care of the things given to them, Jesus says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked," Luke 12:48b). We must see in the long view Christ would have us experience during this season that the blessings we’ve received are not for ourselves—ourselves as individuals, as a family, as a church or even as a nation. We have been given much, entrusted with much and along with that comes great responsibility also.

Finally, I think the long view Christ would have our eyes see in this season is that our lives are not defined by the circumstances that occur in our lives. We live in a broken world, where moths and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal. If our treasure and, therefore, our hearts are with God, those circumstances are not what defines us, are not the end of our story. In his second letter to Corinth, the apostle Paul writes these words for us to hear today: "…we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal," (2 Corinthians 4:14, 16-18). We ought to remember that as the temporary things around us begin to experience the world’s corrosion. Those temporary things are not our treasure. God is, and His kingdom in which we’re given the high privilege of participating in, that’s where our treasure should be and, therefore, where our hearts are. Not in temporary things.

So, if we were going to schedule the perfect time for Consecration Sunday, now would not be the time. Of course, the truth is there would never be a "perfect" time for Consecration Sunday because we live in an imperfect world. And sometimes, those imperfections bring difficult challenges to life. But I believe Jesus, as he always does in our imperfect world, would call us to move forward. He calls us to move forward because there is still much to be done—restoring the foundation of Jesus Christ to all of life, including our finances and economy, clearing our vision and the vision of others as to who we really trust and where our treasure, and therefore where our heart, is. So we’re moving forward. See you next Sunday for Consecration Sunday.

Let’s take a moment for silent reflection.