Think back to your mailbox over the past several weeks.

What organizations have asked you for their financial support? What causes have you been asked to give money to recently, either by mail, e-mail, in person, or by phone? [ASK]

Show and share mine: World Vision, Samaritan’s purse, piano, etc.

One reality of the world we live in, a reality of computers and databases and marketers and development offices, is this: we have many more organizations to give to, and many more people asking us to give, than ever before. Who wants to hear more about giving at church?

The stereotype of churches and money is not a particularly flattering one.

What are some things you’ve heard people say about churches and money? What range of responses come when we talk about giving, money, and churches? [ASK]

So, into that huge range of responses, I am going to tread. This week and next week, we’ll be talking about what the New Testament says about financial giving.

It isn’t easy to talk about, or to hear.

I’ve been thinking and praying about this for weeks, and given a lot of time to it this past week. I’ve looked for a good joke to soften the blow; I’ve wanted to make disclaimers; I’ve written several different introductions and tried to cover all the bases.

But I can’t say it all. So before we begin, I’ll tell you what I know for sure. I’ll tell you what process I’ve gone through. And I’ll tell you some reasons you might think I’m doing this, but I’m that I’m really NOT!

I know for sure that giving and money are an important part of our life with God.

Jesus talked about money all the time. The bible talks about giving in all kinds of places and in all kinds of ways, but in every instance it assumes that God’s people will give, willingly, some of what they have to others. Giving and money are an important part of life with Jesus.

I also know for sure that a right perspective on giving and money involves the word stewardship.

Talle Malmstrom said it last week as we asked her about her trip to Nicaragua. She said, about the money it cost to go on the trip, that “it’s all God’s anyway.”

Stewardship is the belief found all through the bible that says every material and financial thing we have is not our own, but God’s. Now, that’s a pretty radical thought. It goes against our economic system of capitalism, which says private ownership is the key to everything.

Stewardship is the biblical belief that I don’t own a single thing. Everything is God’s, and I am a steward of it. I take care of it, on God’s behalf. I’m supposed to be using what God gives me as God wants it to be used.

If we take the bible seriously, we’re the mutual fund manager of all our stuff, working on our investor’s behalf, on God’s behalf. We’ve been given durable power of attorney over a living trust of the money we have, managing it on behalf of God!

If you and I are going to be brave enough to follow what the bible says about money and giving, it will take a willingness to change what we do with what we have. We aren’t off the hook if we give God some and do what we want with the rest. Rightly viewing giving and money from God’s perspective means using all we have as God intends.

Those are the things I know for sure.

Since it’s important to regularly talk about giving and money as a part of our lives with God, I penciled these two weeks in to the schedule of themes for worship. Then I started looking at what the New Testament said about giving.

It was a wake up call! Most of how the New Testament talks about giving isn’t what we think. The word “tithe”, the idea of giving 10% of our money to the church, is not mentioned. The only time a “tenth” is mentioned, it’s in a negative way about the Pharisees legalism.

Giving in the New Testament centers around supporting the poor and needy, and around supporting those who minister in God’s church, here and around the world. So today, we’ll talk about giving to the poor and needy, and next week, about giving as a way of making ministry happen.

Finally, some reasons I’m NOT talking about this, even though some might think I am.

I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. I’m not fund-raising for our church. I’m not wanting a bigger salary. I’m not wanting to build a big empire or institution. I don’t want my face plastered on any television near you.

I want us to be faithful to hear the words in the bible that challenge our selfishness with money.

I want us to break the hold that money has on us by learning to give freely and generously. I want our community to give in ways that tangibly help the poor and needy within our church and outside of our church, those in our community and around the world.

And next week, I hope we can change our view of our budget here at NFC, see it less as building an institution, and see it more as joining together to pool our resources to do what God asks in our world.

I won’t say it all.

I won’t get it perfect. But my prayer is this helps us more faithfully follow Jesus, as individuals and as a church.

Standing up in front of people and saying it’s a good thing to give away money borders on being ridiculous.

Why give? Why help other people?

I’ve had to begin with some assumptions, and it’s probably good to just get them out in the open. For me, giving doesn’t make any sense except to think of it as a way of living in response to God. It comes out of what the bible says is true: that God gives us every good gift, including our money and the ability to earn it.

So I’m speaking today to people who have made the decision that you want to live like God intends.

If you haven’t given your life to Jesus, then what I say today will simply help you understand what it means to follow Jesus. You aren’t being asked to give anything until you decide following Jesus is what you want to do with your life.

If you follow Jesus but aren’t convinced that everything you have is God’s, today and next week might be a little frustrating, because I’m assuming that it IS all God’s. You can talk with me or others or search the internet for more thoughts on stewardship and what it means.

Let’s start by looking at just some of the many places in the bible that talk about giving.

When Paul talks about money in his letters, it’s often when he’s gathering financial support for the poor and needy people in the church in Jerusalem. He traveled all over the Roman empire, and in most of those places, he asked the churches to give money to support people they had never met and most likely never would meet.

Paul seems to think that being a part of the family of God means having a responsibility to care for other members of the family, whether we know them or not. In asking people to give money to support others, he challenges them to excel in giving as a mark of how they are living for God. Paul says all kinds of challenging things, without any disclaimers, without any fear of being seen as a manipulator…without even a good joke!

You’ve heard some of these verses already earlier in the service, but listen to the strength of Paul’s words on giving to those in need:

2 Cor. 8:1-8, NLT

Rom. 12: 6-8, 13; NLT

Paul doesn’t mince words at all when he writes to Timothy about what to teach on giving.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT

There’s utter confidence that God will provide for what we need. There’s a challenge to those who might think they’ve protected themselves by earning a lot of money, asking us to recognize it’s God who provides for us.

And these strong words to use our money to do good take us beyond caring for our brothers and sisters in God’s family. Paul extends it to anyone in the world who is in need. Paul is echoing Jesus’ love and concern for the poor and needy, Jesus’ love and concern that led him to teach things like these words found in the book of Luke:

Luke 14: 12-14 NLT

Luke 18: 18-25 NLT

Our responsibility to care for each other, especially to care for the poor and needy among us, is all over the place in the bible. If you use a bible search program or a concordance and look up words like “giving”, and “poor”…it’s overwhelming.

I even learned something about what Jesus said in Matthew 26: 11. One time people were critical of a woman who poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, and he said, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

I’ve heard people give that as evidence that we’ll never conquer poverty in our world.

I’ve even heard some use that as a justification for moving the church away from giving to the poor and needy and toward focusing only on Jesus, only on what might be called “spiritual things.”

Jesus’ words sound a lot like something from the Old Testament. Perhaps Jesus was hoping to remind his hearers about Deuteronomy 15:11, which starts very much the same way: “There will always be some among you who are poor.” There will always be poor among, so…what’s our responsibility? Let me read the whole of Deuteronomy 15:11: “There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.”

One of the big things God wants for us to do with our money is to do something good with it. He wants us to give it to those in need.

All through these verses, it doesn’t matter if people are poor or rich, they’re asked to give something. God doesn’t measure our giving by amounts. Our gift isn’t less important if we ourselves have little. Our gift isn’t more impressive simply because it is large. God will take care of our needs, often through other people’s generosity.

But it’s all God’s money. What we give is in proportion to what we earn (1 Cor. 16:2), but we all are to give and to share.

What’s hard about the whole topic of giving really isn’t understanding what the bible says.

The bible is clear: what we have is God’s, and God’s plan is for us to help take care of each other by giving to those who need it.

What’s hard isn’t understanding. What’s hard is that the needs in our world truly are overwhelming. Just in my mailbox alone, there is more need for giving then all of our combined incomes times 10. You and I know all kinds of individuals who struggle to make ends meet.

To steal Dawn Todd’s words last week, “We can’t do it all…but we can help some.”

We can help some, and we are helping. We gave over $7500 to hurricane relief a few months ago. Every month, people give to our Compassionate Care fund, and that money is used to help pay gas and electric bills, buy food, help with rent…it’s used to help those within our congregation who are in need.

As a church, we give each month to FISH, a local agency that gives food and clothing to those in need. We give to Faith in Action, who coordinate money and time and volunteers to help the elderly in our community.

Many of you personally help others in amazing ways.

I know some of you buy groceries and do laundry for other people in need. Some of you provide services like plumbing and doctor’s care and counseling. Some of you have bought computers and even cars for people who’ve needed them.

We are a generous group of people! And, we can learn from each other. I’d like to give some examples of things that our church is already doing, examples of things that individuals are already doing, as practical suggestions for how we might help some even though we can’t fix it all.

I want to ask you to write down several simple two word action steps. These are two word phrases that I’m hoping spark practical ideas for how we can care for the poor and needy around the world.

It’s not everything-you can probably come up with others, and I hope you will! You don’t have to do them all; but I want to ask if you’ll write them all down and give God a chance to bring one or two of them to the front of your mind as practical steps to be taken now to give to the poor and needy.

Ready? Here are the first two words. “Cookie Jar”

Anyone and everyone in your house can put loose change, extra money, or a certain amount each month into the jar. And anyone and everyone can use it to give to or buy something for people you run into who have needs.

We used it at our house to give groceries to a family we know who need it, and to give scholarship money for outdoor school last year, among other things. Cookie jar!

“Compassionate Care”

This year, our church has given more than $12,000 to church attenders who need help with rent, food, or other needs. That money isn’t in our budget, but only comes when someone designates a gift to Compassionate Care. You could make a one-time gift, or regular gifts to compassionate care.

“Faith Promise”

Dawn reminded us last week that our Faith Promise program is money designated specifically for Missions outside of our regular budget. So many of our missionaries are helping the poor and needy in tangible ways; the Stanfields at a hospital, the Thomas’s planting trees for nutrition, Ann Mansfield at an orphanage…

Through Faith Promise, we can support people we know and love in their work to help the poor and needy. Next week, we’ll collect the pledges for 2006; the cards are in the racks in front of you. On any Sunday, any check marked “Faith Promise” will go toward supporting poor and needy around the world.

“Remember Nhu”

Josh Reid, our youth pastor, as well as several others in his small group, is finding ways to do something about human trafficking in our world, particularly in the sex slave trade in Cambodia and Thailand.

Josh will be visiting those countries in January, with Carl Ralston, who is the founder of “Remember Nhu.” “Remember Nhu” is a non profit organization giving physical, spiritual, educational, and emotional help to victims of the sex slave trade industry. It’s staffed by volunteers, and every dollar goes directly to support the work there. Josh will need financial support for his trip in January, and you can also give directly to the organization by marking your check “Remember Nhu” and placing it in the offering plate any time…or up here at the end of the service.

“Right Sharing”

A Quaker organization called “Right Sharing of World Resources” gives micro-loans to poor people, primarily women, around the world, loans which help them start businesses to support themselves. It’s having tremendous results with relatively small dollar amounts. “Right Sharing” is a way to give, and again, we’ll get it to the right place if you designate it and put in the offering plate.

“Sign up”

Giving isn’t all about money! You can sign up to volunteer with Love INC or Faith in Action or Habitat for Humanity here in town, and give your time to help those in need right around us.

Our own Bob Hampton has this big idea of our church supporting local “Extreme Home Makeovers”. He dreams about plumbers and electricians and people willing to sling a hammer and paint a wall pooling our resources together to improve the home of someone really in need in our own community. If you want more information on how to sign up, use a community card, put your name and what you’re interested in, and drop it up here on the pulpit. “Sign up.”

So there’s just a few two word things on a list:

Cookie Jar, Compassionate Care, Faith Promise, Remember Nhu, Right Sharing, and Sign Up. Maybe you have something else specifically you want to add to your list. My hope is that with all of the bible verses and talk about giving today, that one, practical thing will emerge as a way for you to increase your giving.

Here’s the last thing I want to say before we spend some time in God’s presence.

You may believe God wants you to give. You may want to give. You may really, really want to be able to practically help someone else.

But, you’re afraid because you yourself can’t make ends meet every month.

The scary statistic right now is that our country has a negative savings rate. When you add us all up, we are spending more money than we are taking in. Many of us look at our bank statements, and say, “How, God? I want to. But how?”

It is a huge risk to give when it feels like there’s nothing to give.

Can we ask God to help us take that risk?

Can we ask God to help us risk giving something at the beginning of the month, rather than the end? Can we ask God to show us specifically how and what he would like us to give to help others?

If we take the risk, we might find amazing ways God provides. If we take the risk at the beginning of the month, we might find that God is better able to help us say no to an extra expenditure that we don’t really need in the middle of the month.

Can we ask God to help us risk giving something to others?

[Open Worship]

Closing Prayer from Dan McCracken

Gregg asked me if I would give the closing prayer after the sermon. “Fools rush in . . .”—I actually told him I would do it if I were going to be in town. I expect the prayer would have taken the form of a personal confession.

I confess, Lord, that I’m comfortable with the thing I should be afraid of and afraid of what should be normal. I use the wrong preposition. I’m arrogant, self-centered, and middle class.

I don’t want to be arrogant and self-centered, but I do want to be middle class. I like my comfortable house, new-enough cars, medical insurance, and my retirement account. I’m not thinking about giving these up. If you see it different Lord, you better bring a big stick, a really big stick.

Now about that self-centered arrogance: I think I’d like myself better if I were quicker to think of others. In the background I have a self-interest calculator that figures: If I do “this” then ultimately I will receive “that.” I’d like to be less concerned about the balance of trade.

I work at hiding my arrogance, but you see right through me. I confess I look down on some people.

Lord, I think I can handle ministry to the poor. I’ll give to the canned food drives, I’ll make tax-deductible contributions, and I’ll talk the talk about helping the needy. But I get scared when I think about ministry with the poor. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds messy.

Prayer of Confession by Howard Childers: “O Lord, that we dare confess anything at all to You before our brothers and sisters here in this church today is proof that we believe that You already know us as we are; that we believe that You are able to do something about it; and that we are willing to step from our worlds of pretense, fantasy and illusion into a kind of “facing-up-to-things-as-they-are” where You can touch us, and forgive us, and love us, and accept us and make us new. This is hard, Lord, but here we are.”

Assurance of Pardon by Kenneth Working: “This statement is completely reliable and should be universally accepted: Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners. He personally bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good. God’s mercy never ends. I tell you, in the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.”