A Life in Balance - Material Possessions

Preached at Hallam and Martell UMCs, October 7, 2007.

In the church, we talk about stewardship primarily in taking care of our financial resources. When we talk about a stewardship drive, generally you can count on someone asking you to give more to the church. Often, when I mention the word stewardship, I can actually see peoples' eyes glaze over! The problem is that this definition of stewardship is woefully inadequate. Even worse, to someone who is not familiar with the term, it means even less—it is just more church-speak (a dialect of TBN-ese). Stewardship is a far more global term, it encompasses every aspect of our lives.

Stewardship is about a life of balance—utilizing the gifts that God has given us in healthy ways, whether those gifts are relationships, opportunities, time, or even material possessions. For the last three weeks, I have shared with you some thoughts on the first three of these:
relationships—balancing time and effort spent on others with time spent on ourselves
opportunities—balancing preparedness with opportunity
time—balancing our schedule with God's schedule
and finally today, I would like to share with you some thoughts on the last portion, what many incorrectly believe sums up the entire definition—money.

In his book, “Being in Balance,” Dr. Wayne W. Dyer writes that if you were to search for light, you would obviously not look for light in dark places. You would know that you couldn't spend your time analyzing dark places and wallowing around blindly in the dark—you would never discover light by continuing to search for it in the dark. Now substitute the words “abundance” and “scarcity” in that statement. You can't find abundance by wallowing in a scarcity mind-set. What do I mean by that? A scarcity mindset is focused on what little we have rather than the abundance God offers.

I read recently of a man in Saudi Arabia who was extremely wealthy and lived in an unbelievable palace. He had airplanes, and helicopters, and cars, and yachts—he was rich beyond anything we could imagine. Yet every few months, he would bring in hundreds of poor people from his country and meet with them individually. In most cases, whatever their need, he would give it to them. If they needed a car, he would give them a car. If they needed a house, he would give them a house. Money for an operation?--they had it. He literally gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars, and millions in property and materials. Now this man was likely not a Christian, but he relied upon the principle that if he gave unselfishly, it would be given back.

Now you might be thinking that if you as much as the Saudi prince, you would do the same thing. But that is missing the point! God calls us to be faithful and rely on God's abundance regardless of where we are financially. You might not have a lot of extra money, but can you share your dinner once in a while? The whole idea of a fellowship dinner is that we each give a bit of our own abundance, and we are blessed with more than enough. And I have never seen a fellowship dinner where they ran out of food or anyone left hungry!

That is the concept the believers in Acts 4 relied upon.
32 The whole group of believers lived in harmony. No one called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything. With great power the apostles continued to testify that the Lord Jesus had come back to life. [God's] abundant good will was with all of them. None of them needed anything. From time to time, people sold land or houses and brought the money to the apostles. Then the money was distributed to anyone who needed it.

Everyone had more than enough when they shared from their abundance. But Ananias and Sapphira held back with an attitude of scarcity. They wanted to be seen as super-Christians, and lied about the gift they gave to the church. Now scripture says they died on the spot, and I have been asked if that kind of thing would happen today. Friends, I believe that it DOES happen today. Whenever we live in that attitude of scarcity, we are bound by fear and a part of us dies. There is something about living in God's abundance that is freeing and invigorating. Why is Christmas so wonderful—because we GET gifts, or because we get to give?

What opportunities surround you to give? I already mentioned one—sharing a meal with someone. Today you have another opportunity, as it is World Communion Sunday, one of the special days that United Methodists ask for a special offering for a special cause. Today's special offering will go to provide scholarships for ethnic and international students to go to college, improving their lives, and perhaps in return, their contributions to society will improve your life. Either way, you are blessed by giving.

You have a second opportunity today... to support this church—without your support this church would cease to exist. Very soon, we will be formulating a budget for the year to come. This budget is based on what YOU give, and the ministry and effectiveness of the church is directly affected.

Friends, I invite you to live in abundance rather than in scarcity. Balance your desire for abundance with your habits of scarcity—don't dwell on what little you have, rejoice in what God has given, and make a habit of giving as God has given. Give freely and often.