Seventh Grade Wisdom

7

Mountainside UMC November 9, 2014

Seventh Grade Wisdom

About 25 years ago I made a trip to a place called Spearman, Texas. I had never been to this place before. But I spent a weekend there on a youth event and learned something there I never forgot.

To provide a little orientation I’ll show you a map of Texas with a star at Spearman. PICTURE 1. It’s a small town as can be seen by the school bus. PICTURE 2. Just kidding it actually has a population of about 3500. If you were to go to downtown Spearman on a nice day it would look like this. PICTURE 3 -A few pickups. If you were happen to show up on a day where the when the weather was bad it might look like this. PICTURE 4. If you were wondering what to do while you were in town you could visit the Windmill Park PICTURE 5. It is not just any park but the J. B. Buchanan Windmill Park PICTURE 6 who was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Spearman till he died.

Rev. Jeff Lust our current NM Conference Provost pastored at First Spearman as well as Rev. Lane Boyd who I worked for in Midland Texas and Lane often referred to Spearman in it’s Politically correct form of “Spearperson.”

So here I am in spending a week in Spearman as a part of a Disciple Now Youth Event that has brought together a variety of youth from a variety of denominations, and towns. I brought some of my youth from Borger, Texas to participate. Now I remember meeting in small groups in homes and walking my team through the workbook and large gatherings for games & a concert and I’m sure there was keynote speaker for the Saturday night gathering.

But if you were to ask me what did I learn or what did I remember after either teaching, leading a small group, or listening to other speakers…I only remember learning one thing.

During this Disciple Now event involving over 300 youth and part of the event involved small study groups in host homes. I was one of the leaders and I had 8 Seven & Eighth graders. And one of the topics we covered was about offerings and the biblical teaching of tithing and one of my kids Billy a Seventh Grader interrupted and said, “I’ve got to tell you the coolest story.” He said that at the first of the summer he was trying to get a lawn-mowing business going and it was going nowhere as he was only able to round up one or two customers. And after the first week after going door to door trying to get his business going and only experiencing discouragement he finds himself back in church.

That particular Sunday the pastor of his church there in Spearman was talking about the Scriptural teaching on Tithing or giving 10% of one’s income. Billy’s Spirit latched on to that and said. “Lord, I don’t anything to give yet but I’m giving you a tithe on every dime and dollar I receive.” Then a BIG SMILE came across his face, he looked at me and said, Before the next week was over, I had plenty of lawn-mowing jobs offered to me. This tithing thing with God is amazing!

I’ll Never forgot him telling me that story and what an incredible experience for him that I am sure changed the direction and faith of his life. THEN I had a thought, what if that preacher had chickened out from teaching on Tithing or taught the Biblical Stewardship wasn’t that important. Billy would have missed out on an opportunity to see how using his resources could impact his faith and be a blessing to others as well. He would have missed out on a great testimony of how his decision to be a giver changed his understanding of God’s provision in his life.

Now many of you are probably thinking, that’s a nice story but I don’t plan on starting up a landscaping business anytime soon and I’m not like Billy who prior to his commitment to tithe had no resources or no income. I already have a lot of resources.

I hear year you. I am in a similar boat, but even though I’m not broke financially and both Lindy and I already have income from our places of employment I find that Billy’s “Seventh Grade Wisdom” on tithing still has great value for Lindy and I am thankful for the messages long ago before I ever became a pastor about the important of following the Biblical teaching of Giving and Tithing as a vital part of God’s call to disicipleship.

So I want to take a moment and share with you Reasons Why I Give. These aren’t the only reasons, but they are Five Reasons why it is important for us/Lindy and I to be faithful in our giving.

The first one is a little self-centered, although looking reviewing them all I noticed several of them were. But that’s okay.

1. I FEEL _GOOD__ I feel good about myself when I give.

Most of us do enjoy giving. Can you think about a particular Christmas or Birthday when you picked out a really thoughtful gift that you knew the recipient would be thrilled over and how much you anticipated watching someone receive that gift?

I feel Good about Writing a tithe check I also feel Good about Writing out a tithe check because I am reminded that it is the Grace of God that leads me to do this. I didn’t invent this and I likely wouldn’t do this tithing part on my own if it weren’t for the teaching of the Scriptures and the prompting of the Holy Spirit to obey that teaching. This is something that has a God source.

An additional joy that Lindy and I share is that while we tithe our regular income to our local church, we sometimes receive additional gifts that we use to give to other ministries or even individuals. There have been a number of times where Lindy or I would make a connection with a person we know, often a single mom with kids who experienced a loss or trial and we would right out a check and send it saying, “We believe the Lord wants you to have this please receive this gift from Him.”

And then we’d get back letters or words of appreciation how that exact amount met a need that they had now idea how to solve. It may be a little selfish, but it feels good to give. Being Good to others returns to us as Proverbs 18:16 - A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.

2. I WANT JESUS AS _LORD__ I experience a tangible, meaningful, very real declaration of Jesus as Lord when I write out a check that really costs us something. I find that it is one thing for me to SAY “Jesus is Lord” but it is an entirely different deal when it is declared in the First Fruits of Tithing.

Nehemiah 10:37 37 "Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.

It is a way of declaring His Lordship over our lives and our needs. It is also my way of honoring God’s Authority in our life and one of the realities of the Kingdom of God is that we only have authority to the extent that we are under authority.

Most of us have a Drivers License – Authority Drive a Car – Drive under the authority of the Law or they will pull your license. This applies in Workplace and others – Applies in the Kingdom of God- Experience God’s Power his strength, His enabling strength through us we must choose to come under His Authority.

When I came to faith in Christ is was as Savior AND Lord and the two are inseparable.

3. I SEEK THE _ BLESSING___

I want to know the blessing of obedience in this area of my life. I want to place myself where I come under the protection and blessing from God. I believe God returns our investments in multiple forms. He says he does and I’ve seen it in my own life.

I like the experiences of seeing God provide for me and my family. I like the peace that comes with that. I like the peace and the discipline to wait on God in making decisions.

Does this mean I won’t experience loss, pain or suffering? NO

But I have experienced a Hightened Awareness of God saying, “I’ve got your number” let me show you my provision, presence and peace when you don’t feel so blessed. Deuteronomy 28

I’ve got numerous stories of God’s provision and blessing in my life because against worldly advice, against common sense, against all odd’s I have memories of the Holy Spirit leading me to be faithful to tithe when my “flesh” was saying this is crazy, yet my spirit was saying God if in the end I can’t see your faithfulness in face of an impossible situation then what is the point of my faith.

I was determined to use my finances and my giving to teach me a lesson about the blessings of God and his faithfulness. I don’t care if I ever get to the point where I am only earning a dollar an hour I will always tithe and give beyond the tithe. God is Good. Finances are Fleeting and Faith is Eternal. God is worthy.

4. I BELIEVE IN GOD’S Stewardship

I believe that God is a better investor of resources that I return to him than I am. I could invest this tithe that belongs to the Lord and put it in the stock market or an IRA or into the kingdom of God. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we are not to save up and invest that’s another 10-20%. There is Biblical instruction to save and prepare for the future. But there is not an instruction to save that which belongs to the Lord for oneself.-Leviticus 27:30 'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

Malachi 3 – Tells the Israelites that they have been stealing from God and are under a curse because they are withholding the tithe.

I Believe that 100 years from now I will be FAR MORE thankful when I fully realize what God did with what I returned back to him verses what would have happened had I “Eaten the Seeds.”

5. I BELIEVE IN THE __MISSION__ I believe in the mission of this local church and I believe in the people this church serves AND the children, youth and adults who we will be able to serve in the years to come and that won’t take place without every person taking seriously the call to Financial Faithfulness.

I feel good about how it helps resource the Church/Body of Christ to worship, study, fellowship, minister, reach out to each other and our community and world. I think about all the ministries that are church is involved in not just helping our church family grow as Disciples of Christ.

I feel good about supporting the various programs that are related to our church like our Worship Services, Music programs, Choir, Jug Band, Praise Band, Jubilee Players, Children’s church, Sunday Schools. Study Groups, Home groups, Ignite program, Upward Sports and MacLeap, Tweener dances, Youth Missions, Vacation Bible School, AA and Alanon Groups, Women’s ministries, studies, retreats, Holy Yoga, Fellowship and Special Events like Pet Blessing and African Children’s Choir – coming Jan 11.

I feel good about keeping being a part along with many of you to of help build at least part this campus. But the giving to the budget helps keep it maintained, clean, keeps the lighting, heat, air conditioning, insurance, repairs. You name it it’s all a part of building the kingdom of God in peoples hearts. If you don’t think buildings and structures matter to God, then go back and read the book of Ezra and Nehemiah and the 21st chapter of Revelation and reconsider the importance of buildings and cities.

I feel good about supporting a ministry that supports the Lord’s Mountain Oprhanage(addit don-over $8K). S.E. Coleman, East Mtn Food Pantry, Project share, Christmas Baskets, Asbury Pie Café, McFrederick missions in Czech Republic, Ministry Team led by Scott Luna in Uganda. Kairos Prison Ministry, Education Scholarships other How about the Victory Quilt Ministry?

I could go on but most of all I feel good about all these things that help building the kingdom of God in the hearts of those people whom I care about and whom I walk alongside as we seek together to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. So I Feel Good about doing my part and fulfilling my responsibility to support what God is doing here at Mountainside. I also find the more I support the more I get out of what God is doing here. That is really true with any ministry. You won’t get near as much out of any ministry unless you support it and have skin in the game so to speak. I feel good about supporting Mountainside and I hope you do too.

As great as all these ministries are I also remind myself that I am not tithing to the Church(a building) but To The LORD and thereby ministering to people who matter to God.

Having said all that it would probably be helpful for you to know why I am issuing this call and challenge. Needless to say the expenses of ministry down go down if we want to continue making progress. New programs that help us grow aren’t free. Developing new ministries leads to increased expenses. We are anticipating increases in staffing and related expenses. The cost of utilities, insurance, maintenance will also be increasing.

But we believe that with your faithfulness we will be able to meet these needs and continue to offer programs that can help us reach our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and our world.

Instructions related to Estimate of giving Card – Weekly.

Mailed out – Tuesday – Pray – Questions – call – presenting these next week. If out. Please mail them in as they determine- budget.