Show Your Commitment to God

Audio Link:  Show Your Commitment To God

Mark 12:41-44                                                                  February 5, 2006

There is a story of a lady who had kept a turkey in her freezer for over two years. Finally, she called the 1-800 number on the wrapping paper and asked the company if the turkey was still OK to eat. The customer service representative replied that while it would be safe, it probably would not taste very good. “Oh,” replied the lady, “then I think I’ll give it to the church.”

Two weeks ago, I started a series of sermons about visioning and planning for the future of Moore’s Chapel. The first Sunday, I shared that our faith in God is the starting point for our building project. Last Sunday, I shared about the vision of God concerning this project. Today, I am going to preach about our commitment and stewardship to accomplish this project. We have learned that if we have faith, whether it is big or small, we can share God’s vision. However, the vision of God cannot be accomplished with our spiritual and financial commitment.

Moore’s Chapel started the fundraising campaign last Saturday. Personally, I prefer different words. Rather, I would use “commitment or stewardship campaign.” Since our leaders and officials are fully committed, we are starting from quite a good foundation. Today is the day that I am supposed to talk about money, encourage all of you to pledge, and more than that, and encourage all of you to show your commitment to God. This coming Saturday we will have Kick-Off event and next Sunday we will have our Commitment Sunday for the building project, during which we hope every church member will promise a pledge for this “Building the Future.”

I know that talking about money makes people nervous, especially when it’s mentioned from the church pulpit. However, this morning, I do not hesitate to talk about money, offerings, tithing, or any financial ideas because I believe this is not an issue of money, but an issue of faith, vision, commitment, priority, and stewardship.

In today’s Scripture, Jesus finished his teaching and sat down in the area of the temple. The temple treasury was located in the court of women. In this area were seven boxes in which worshipers could deposit their temple tax and six boxes for freewill offerings. Here Jesus sat to watch the people as they put in their offerings. As we already recognize, this is a very unusual scene for Jesus’ character and ministry. He is never described as a supervisor who watches how much money is brought in.
 
However, one clear thing that we can say is that Jesus is watching us even as we put in our offerings into the offering plate on Sunday morning. I am not saying that he counts how much money is in the offering plate, who will make most contribution for church, or calculate how much money is collected as our Sunday offerings. Rather, I believe every Sunday morning, he is watching our attitude, commitment, and sacrifice during the offering, sitting right there beside the offering plates.

In contrast to the loud clattering of the rich people’s offerings, a poor widow gave only two coins. This widow’s offering totaled only two very small copper coins, the smallest Jewish coin in circulation in Palestine. As a widow, she had few resources for making money. If a widow in New Testament times had no sons, no protector, and remained unmarried, she was often destitute. Since there was no social security or public aid for widows, a widow would often be without financial support.

Despite all these situations, the widow in today’s Scripture gave all she had to live on; in contrast to the way most people handled their money. Rich people were giving out of their abundance, while she had given her whole livelihood. As a poor person, she was only required to give one of them. The widow could have kept back a coin, but she willingly gave both coins. She gave everything that she had.

In Jesus’ eyes, the poor widow had put in more than all the others, even though the rich people had contributed large amounts to the treasury. The value of a gift is not determined by its amount, but by the spirit in which it is given. God does not look on the amount of money a person gives, but on the attitude with which it is given and on how much the person keeps back. Because the widow put in all she had, she had to trust and commitment God for her life.

Jesus wanted the disciples and, of course, all of us to see this lesson as total surrender of self to God, commitment to God, and willingness to trust in his provision. Originally and eventually every bit of money, possessions, materials and property is belongs to God. We just have the responsibility to take care of and manage it. The important thing is how do we use those resources that God entrusts us temporally. We just use His material, resource, time, or money that He allows us to use.
 
When John D. Rockefeller died, one man was curious about how much he left behind. Determined to find out, he set up an appointment with one of Rockefeller's highest aides and asked, “How much did Rockefeller leave behind?” The aide answered, “All of it.”
 
We don’t have to ask how much money is left behind when someone passes away because, without exception, we cannot carry any of it to heaven. Therefore, the important thing is not how much we had on earth, or how much money we leave behind, rather, how much money is spent, given away, and invested for God and His ministry.

Unfortunately, in many cases, we misunderstand this truth and believe that money belongs to us and we insist that we have right to spend it in order to meet our safety, conveniences and needs. Furthermore, we hesitate and hold tightly to what we use for church and God’s ministry. We are called to be stewards of God’s property.

If you have ever been on a ship, you know what a ship’s steward is. Or if you have ever been on an airplane, you know what a steward or a stewardess is. That person does not own airplane or anything on the plane. The company owns everything, but he or she is entrusted with its care. That steward has been given the responsibility of taking the goods that belong to a higher authority and dispensing it to the people for their benefit. That is a steward-on an airplane or ship-and it is true in the spiritual as well.

As people of faith, we have been commanded to “Give to God the things that are God’s.” We are commanded to return the fruit of our labors, our money, to expand God’s kingdom on this earth. Yet even more, we are meant to give of our selves, of our time and our talents and our energies, to the life of the church and to the service of God. We are asked, in fact, to present our very bodies, our very selves, as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

While stewardship is about more than money, it is important to talk about money because, in this culture, money is a significant indicator of value and of what is important to us. Jesus clearly declares, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Matthew 6:21). When we focus on our commitment or priority to God, we cannot escape the issue of offerings to God.
 
As Christians, our riches and possessions are measures of our discipleship. Jesus said we should love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, all of our minds, and all our strength. The Bible message to us is not 10 percent, but 100 percent! The issue is not the percentage of income but the total commitment of the heart.
 
Our resources of every sort, time, strength of body and mind, and our economic resources are all belong to God. When we say that we are Christian, it means carrying a responsibility of stewardship and Christian commitment. That is my understanding of stewardship. I strongly believe that spiritual commitment always follows with through financial expression. Throughout my father’s ministry and mine too, it has been proved. Both are inseparable!
 
Now Moore’s Chapel is about to build our future in faith in God. We are going to plant the vision of God. We are going to make God’s vision for us come true. When we say we have the vision of God, it means we have an expectation from God. We look forward to see how God will accomplish His vision. What do we expect from God? What do you expect from God?
 
A family sat down at the dinner table following church one Sunday. “The sermon was boring today,” said the teenage son. “Yeah, even worse, the inside of church was so cold. I was frozen” his sister chimed in. “How about the choir, they are always terrible!” Finally, the father, showing his leadership, said, “Hush, you guys. Quit complaining. What did you expect for a quarter?”
 
Last Sunday, I preached that, if we can visualize it, we can make it happen.
However, there is one requirement to make it come to reality, we must be fully committed to the vision both spiritually and financially. If we expect a lot, we commit and devote a lot.

Surely our God is the God of abundance. He can do whatever He wants. He can get whatever He needs. As children sing, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” Without our help, He can build His church and its addition. However, He always wants to work with us. He has been working through our hands, feet, and resources. God can accomplish his vision through our faithful stewardship of time, talent, and treasure.

The chief of a tribe was celebrating his son’s birthday, and asked everyone to bring a little bit of their best wine to share with each other for the feast. He set a jar outside of the door, so that the guests could pour their own bit of wine from their leather pouches. One sneaky guest decided that it wouldn’t make a difference if he brought wine or not, so he decided to bring just plain water.
 
As he dumped the water into the jar from his pouch, he thought, “It’s only me, so I’m sure nobody could taste it.” As the liquid from the jar was poured into the cups for everyone, they had a toast in honor of the chief’s son’s birthday, and drank it. But to everyone’s shock and embarrassment, all they could taste was water. Each guest had thought to himself that what he did would not matter.
 
This story ties in so well with our building project. If one of us does not bring his commitment fully, thinking that it will go unnoticed, then our project will fall apart. Among us, is there anyone who is afraid of the uncertainty of our building project for the future? Do not worry! As long as we put our faith and trust in God, there is no reason to fear the future. However, if most of us do not participate in God’s vision and do not show his or her commitment for this project, we cannot achieve the vision of God and build our future.
 
Your stewardship and commitment may be key to the commitment and stewardship of others. Even if your pledge is small, you can be a source of encouragement to others. If your pledge is large, it can be a source of hope and optimism for others. Every one of you is key for the success of this project. We can’t control the future, but with our commitment and stewardship, we can contribute to it. We will see the miracle of God that is accomplished through our resources.
 
What is your understanding of Christian commitment and stewardship? Does your financial commitment really respond or match up to your spiritual commitment? I conclude my sermon today by amending that famous saying in the movie, Jerry McGuire. In that movie, Cuba Gooding Jr. demanded from his agent, “Show me the money!” This morning I ask you, “Not show me the money but show God your commitment and stewardship!