April is a very special month during this calendar year of 2012 for a number of reasons. The most important reason is that we celebrate Easter on April 8^th. This special day and this Easter season remind us that we are Easter people, that is, people of hope. At Easter time we join with the saints of old and the saints of today in greeting each other with these words: “Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Allelulia!”

The victory of Jesus over sin, death and the devil is at the very center of the Christian Gospel. If Christ had not been raised from the dead we would have to say with St. Paul that “our faith is futile and we are still in our sins and if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

With confidence we believe with all the saints that because Christ lives, never to taste death again, we too shall rise to a new life that will never end! What hope and joy we have in Christ, especially when life on this side of heaven becomes painful with many disappointments and tears. In Christ, the best is yet to come!

Another reason why April is special is that the deadline for filing our income taxes occurs during this month. Of course, for those who were looking for tax refunds, they filed early. For others of us who choose to wait we will have one more day of grace since April 15^th is a Sunday. Our deadline is April 16^th. Big deal, right???

Taxes have been a cause of pain and stress for many generations, even centuries. It was that way in the time of Christ. When His enemies tried to trap Jesus with the question of whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus wisely asked them to show him a coin. He asked them whose portrait and inscription was on the coin. “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said those famous words: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:15-22)

The words of Jesus remind us that all authorities (even those we may not like) have been instituted by God. For the Christians of the early New Testament times the governing power was from Rome, a very corrupt and anti-Christian power, and yet Christians then and now are to submit to the governing authorities, even those which seem so corrupt. So, we pay our taxes as Christians, but we also pray that our leaders would lead in God-pleasing and people-blessing ways. Therefore, we vote, we stand up for our faith and values, we make our voices heard, and we do whatever we can to help raise our nation to higher moral and spiritual ground.

April is also a special month because it provides us with 30 more days to follow the second command of Jesus to give unto God what is God’s. We do this by being wise and faithful stewards of all that God has entrusted to us to manage in a way that brings glory to him and blessings to those around us. This stewardship includes the good management of the seven “T’s”—time (86,400 seconds each day), talents (abilities), treasure (money), testimony (our sharing of the good news of Jesus), touch (our relationships), tissue (care of our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit), and trash (care of God’s creation).

With the power and presence of the Holy Spirit let’s go for it, Christian stewards, because our calling is to manage all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes, and strive for excellence in all we do.

STEWARDSHIP

Our definition of Christian stewardship is, “The thoughtful management of EVERYTHING with which our Lord has ENTRUSTED us, and to use all of these gifts to glorify God by serving our fellow man.” “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

This is a tall order, but this is how Holy Scripture tells us to live our lives. It is clear that God owns EVERYTHING. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Ps 24:1

Our objectives are to guide our members to live a more God-pleasing life by having an increased awareness of what it means to be “managers” of God’s many gifts, and to help them identify their own unique “Spiritual Gifts” for service to others.

As a Committee, we intend to place heavy emphasis on the use of prayer in everything we consider and/or propose to the Congregation.

"Christian stewardship is the free and joyous activity
of the child of God and God's family, the church, in managing
all of life and life's resources for God's purposes."

The above definition of Christian Stewardship has been used in our church for a few decades. It contains only 29 words, but what a mouthful when you consider the application of the various parts of this definition.

"Free and joyous." Many people do not think of stewardship as being free and joyous but it really can be when we have the calm assurance that our God richly provides all that we need for the support and wants of our body and life.

"Child of God." What a beautiful title for God's people! The opening verses of 1 John 3 speak of the lavish love of God resulting in making us His very own children. What great good news and what a powerful reminder of the proper motivation for our stewardship activity – love to our God who first loved us.

"God's family, the church." This phrase reminds us that our stewardship is not a solo performance but is done within the Christian community to honor God and benefit others.

"In managing all of life and life's resources." Part of our stewardship struggle is that we think we "own" all those things that surround us when, in truth, we are managers. Another part of our struggle is that we may think that Stewardship is just about money, time and talents. Christian stewardship is about those things and more; Christian stewardship involves our whole life--everything that God has entrusted to us to manage as faithful stewards.

"For His purposes." Maturing stewards do the right things for the right reasons. All we do as Christian stewards is to be done to the glory of God and for the welfare of others as well as ourselves. Who said stewardship was easy? If it were, everyone would be doing it!

Why do we give?

by Craig A. Satterlee (from Alban Institute Weekly - 7/4/11)

“Why do we give money to the church?” a child asks her mother, who is filling Sunday’s offering envelope. How will the mother answer her daughter’s question? How do we answer this question for our children? How does the preacher answer this question for us? Do we say that we give to help pay the church’s bills? Do we say that we give because of all the good things the church does—teaching children, standing for the best things in the community, fostering happiness and human welfare, providing help and friendship, and caring for people in need? How about answering by reciting a Bible verse or telling a Bible story? What verse would we choose? What story would we tell?

If we tell people to give in order to get, people might conclude that God is like a crooked politician whose favor we can purchase. That’s what Simon the magician thought in Acts. “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 8:18–19). If we tell people to give out of obedience to a divine command to tithe, God might become an angry judge who demands and enforces. We can find plenty of verses like this one that tell us to fear the Lord. “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field . . . so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always” (Deut. 14:22–23). If we tell people to give out of gratitude, people might understand God to be the source of everything we are and all we have, and that God lovingly provides for us. We might truly take what Jesus said to heart: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. . . . Look at the birds of the air. . . . Are you not of more value than they? . . . Consider the lilies of the field . . . will [God] not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’” (Matt. 6:25–31).

“Why should I give to the church?” When preachers answer this question, the answers we give are limited, because we need to be especially careful to answer in a way that is consistent with who we proclaim God to be. Otherwise, we offer an inconsistent or contradictory message. We cannot, for example, preach that God loves people unconditionally and saves them by grace and then imply that they somehow earn God’s love and favor by how much they give—even if this approach is more effective in garnering the money the church needs. When people experience inconsistency or a contradictory message in preaching, they tend to resonate more with what they are told they need to do than with who the preacher says God is. More than misleading listeners, such a sermon undermines the gospel.

Whether the topic is money and giving or anything else, preachers cannot forget the primary purpose of the sermon. From a Christian perspective, to preach is first and foremost to proclaim the good news “that God’s love, confirmed in Jesus Christ, is freely, graciously, offered to each and all, and . . . that we are to love God with our whole selves and to love and do justice to our neighbors as ourselves.” To preach stewardship, then, is to proclaim the gospel in such a way that Christians respond by giving their money, spending their time, using their abilities, or however we define stewardship in response and service to Christ, often by supporting Christ’s church—specifically, the congregation. Somehow, preaching stewardship is a response to God or the gospel. In this regard, the stewardship sermon is different from the fund-raising appeal made by the symphony, an alma mater, or the cancer society.

Whatever verse or story we pick, the Bible tells us that our giving is an expression of something bigger and more profound than our church. In terms of money and giving, Scripture’s greatest gift is to keep before us the reason we give to God. We give to God in response to all that God has given us—particularly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—and as a way of sharing in God’s own will for and work in the world. In other words, we give in response to the gospel. According to the Bible, we give to God (1) as an act of worship, (2) as a way of participating in God’s reign, (3) as an act of resistance, (4) as a way of bearing witness, and (5) to grow in grace. Some preachers also believe that the Bible teaches that we give (6) to receive. Individuals and even congregations are motivated to give for various reasons. Therefore, while preachers might select a particular scriptural reason to give for the annual stewardship sermon, we will also appropriately include all of these biblical reasons for giving as we preach over time.

Giving is a freeing part of Christian discipleship! Thinking I am the one who earned it and worked hard for it, I grow in knowing it is all His and loans it to us to manage for His purposes.

"...to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations..." (Ephesians 3:20-21)