Giving Back To God What Is God’s

Stewardship Emphasis Sunday

Matthew 22:15-22 1 Peter 4:8-11

Rev. Todd B. Freeman
Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas

October 26, 2003

When it comes to matters of finances and church income, we as Presbyterians differ from many other Christian denominations. As all of you are undoubtedly (and I’m sure thankfully) aware, it is not our style to pass the collection plate around again and again and again until we collect the amount needed to pay the bills for that month. Neither can we survive solely from funds from denominational headquarters, where throwing a dollar bill into the plate once a week is enough to sustain us.

I know that some of you have come from church backgrounds where one or the other of these approaches have been the case.

Instead, Presbyterians ask each church member or family to pledge – to commit to an amount of time, talent, and money that the church can count on receiving during the course of the next year.

We do that in order to plan a realistic and fiscally sound budget for the coming year. This particular approach to church finances and stewardship is one of those great marks of doing things decently and in order as Presbyterians. Pledging also keeps us from obsessing and worrying over money on a weekly basis (well, all of us except our treasurer and the Finance & Stewardship Committee).

The usual routine is to take a few Sundays each fall and talk about budget needs and the stewardship pledge drive, and to hope and pray that the pastors give an inspiring enough sermon to encourage the congregation to give as much of their time, talents, and financial resources as possible.

Well, with a congregation as small as ours, it doesn’t take much inspiration to realize that if each of us doesn’t give what we can, we wouldn’t be able to keep the church doors open for very long.

And though we are in the third year of a generous 5-year Presbyterian General Assembly Redevelopment Grant, we need to collect more, not less.

Here’s the reality of the matter. We will be receiving $6,000 less this coming year from the Grant than we did this year – that’s $12,000 less that we received the year before that. That means we need to somehow collect $6,000 more dollars this coming year just to stay even with this year.

We have not come close to making up this difference with either increased pledges or new member pledges, even though we have received 19 new members into this congregation in the past 12 months. The year after next the amount we receive from the Grant will be reduced by an additional $6,000. It’s obvious that this sharp reduction in funds cannot be made up simply by our own current membership. Therefore, evangelism and church growth will continue to play a crucial role for us.

So, with that bit of news I really don’t have much else to say about the urgency and importance of this year’s Stewardship Campaign. We have a budget to make and, more importantly, a God-given ministry to carry out. That’s our challenge. That’s our opportunity. It’s up to each and every one of us to decide how we will respond, individually and as a community of faith.

Being a good steward, however, isn’t just about fundraising once a year and volunteering at the church, as important as those things are. Good stewardship is a lifestyle that recognizes that all we have in our lives is really a gift from a gracious God.

You may or may not agree with this principle of stewardship, but it is the biblical understanding of good stewardship. Many Old and New Testament passages reveal that we are merely stewards – caretakers – of all that has been given to us, and it is up to us to use it all wisely and to the glory of God.

This biblical model of good stewardship is even reflected in the words of today’s Gospel Lesson from Matthew 22. Most of you are familiar with the phrase, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s.”

What this passage is actually saying, in part, is that there is no realm or part of life that doesn’t involve God. And the key word in the Greek has been poorly translated into English. “Render to God,” or as the NRSV translates it, “Give to God,” literally means “Give back.” That indicates that we are to give back to God that which is already God’s. In other words, we need to approach stewardship not from a standpoint of giving “my stuff” or “our stuff” to God and the church, but rather giving back “God’s stuff” that we have been blessed and entrusted with.

Let me give you a visual image. Think of stewardship as like being a steward on an actual ship. The ship is loaded with a rich cargo of many things. God is the owner of the ship, but you are it’s captain. Everything you have aboard, all your possessions, your talents, your time, your strength, your abilities, your personality, your privileges, your money, is a cargo to be delivered. God has entrusted it all to you. God has made you the steward, the caretaker, and it’s your job to bring the ship to the right port and distribute the cargo. How are you going to deliver the goods that God has entrusted you to deliver? That’s stewardship.

The Stewardship Survey insert in today’s bulletin offers several more questions to reflect upon as you consider your stewardship in this way. And I ask that you reflect upon all these things as you consider your pledge of time, talents, and money to empower the ministry of this church. And remember, good stewardship is a way of life. See you next week on Pledge Sunday!

Amen

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