The final sermon in our Stewardship drive was Sunday February 3rd. Here is the last set of notes from a most wonderful set of sermons!!!
Reflection:
Andy started out with examples of “rich people’s problems” – things such as “I only get one week of vacation”, or “I can only afford a used car” . Compared to the problems of most people in the world these are “rich people problems”. This is a good reminder statement to all of us who are actually rich, compared to the whole world. Maybe I don’t need to put as much energy/worry into this issue, and should be thankful for what I have (like a house, car, cell phone, cable TV, running water, electricity).
Saint Paul writes to Timothy saying that the generosity of rich people in this present age also lays up treasure for them in heaven. This is what Jesus taught as well. As you give away, your grip on wealth is released, and you open yourself up to the abundance of God’s Kingdom here and now. Rich Christians have more opportunity to give, because they have been given more.
Jesus tells a story/parable about a rich man who had surplus amounts of wealth, on top of his wealth. Since he was wealthy, it was assumed by the hearers of the story, he must be blessed by God, and smart. Saving for the future is an Old Testament concept. I will save it now, and consume it later was his motto, because all that is placed in my hands is for me, he had thought. Then God tells him he will die that night. Jesus says, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves on Earth, but is not rich toward God.”
Thus, we do not get credit for what we leave. We only get credit for what we give. Why? Because everybody leaves the same amount when we die … ALL!
Not everyone is rich toward God, which is the key to Christian generosity. If you want to be rich toward God, than you need to be generous to the people God created. If you want to show your love for God, do something to the people who were made in His image. If you want to do something great for me (God/the Father), do something great for my children. This was a radical new concept that Jesus introduced for how we are to love. It still is today.
Jesus later says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:33-34
God says, I know that your treasure/wealth is the number one contender that gets in the way of your heart directed to God. So, liquidate and give away, especially you rich folk with all your extra stuff. Then your heart/hope will migrate back to God, and great will be your reward in heaven, because you have learned to be rich toward Me.
You hopefully have a savings plan, and you need a deliberate giving plan as well! Don’t end up being like most Americans and be a 3 S Giver: One who is Spontaneous, Sporadic, and Sparing. If you are a 3 S Giver, you miss an opportunity to be rich in God and your hope will migrate away from God.
Become a 3 P Giver: Priority, Percentage, Progressive:
v Priority – When you get some money, you give some away.
v Percentage – You pre-decide how much you are going to give away vs. discovering at tax time what you gave.
v Progressive – As we receive more wealth, and have more than the average person, we should give higher percentages away.
When you take advantage of this unique opportunity to be rich toward God, who has been so incredibly rich toward you, it frees up massive, game-changing generosity with Christians who take the teachings of Jesus seriously.
In life, while you have an opportunity to be rich, you also have an opportunity to be RICH TOWARD GOD.
When God has your money, God has your heart.
YOU WILL NEVER MISS MONEY YOU GIVE AWAY because when you give it away, something happens in your heart. No one who has ever lived a life of extravagant generosity has come back saying, “I regret doing it.”
4 LESSONS ON HOW TO BE RICH TOWARD GOD:
- Do good for those who can’t or won’t do good for you – that was the hallmark of first century Christianity – expecting nothing in return.
- Don’t place your hope in riches, but in the One who richly provides.
- Since you have more, do more and give more.
- Viewing wealth through the lens of eternity loosens our grip on it and its grip on us. This is a central teaching of Jesus.
So, be RICH TOWARD GOD. God will do something in you, and through you, and the world will know most deeply the Grace and Love of our God because of it. Be rich.
Action items:
If you missed any of this sermon series you can review each week online at www.howtoberich.org.
Thank you for your support of the launch of Impact Mountain View. Our embrace of this school embodies what Pastor Stanley has been preaching about – reaching out to God’s children, to the poor.
If God has your heart, and is guiding your generosity you will make a difference, and may actually change the world, which is doing God’s will. When we are rich toward God as a community, there will be no more problems in church budgets, with meeting our benevolences, and we will have the problem of coming up with new ways, and the best ways, to be generous in our city and the world.
If you follow these teachings of Jesus and Paul, if you realize you are indeed rich, if you know that all of your wealth comes from God, if you give off the top, and give away first, if you know that you cannot take anything with you, and if you live by percentages (and keep increasing them), you will be RICH TOWARD GOD, and your reward will be rich in heaven.
Let go of it, of your wealth. Be a great rich person. Start now. God has provided. Pre-decide, and place your hope in the Provider, who has richly provided.